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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #62786 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62786)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spain and Her Colonies (World's Best
-Histories), by Archibald Wilberforce
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Spain and Her Colonies (World's Best Histories)
- Compiled from the Best Authorities
-
-Author: Archibald Wilberforce
-
-Release Date: July 30, 2020 [EBook #62786]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPAIN AND HER COLONIES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by D A Alexander, Chuck Greif, Natrona County
-Public Library System, in Casper, Wyoming, for generously
-donating the books in this project to PG and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- [Illustration: ALFONSO XIII., KING OF SPAIN]
-
-
-
-
- THE WORLD’S BEST HISTORIES
-
- [Illustration]
-
- SPAIN
- AND HER COLONIES
-
- COMPILED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES
- BY ARCHIBALD WILBERFORCE
-
- _WITH FRONTISPIECE_
-
- [Illustration]
-
- THE CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICATION SOCIETY
- NEW YORK AND LONDON
-
-
-
-
- SPAIN
- AND HER COLONIES
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-SPAIN IN ANTIQUITY 7
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-THE CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA 16
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-MEDIEVAL SPAIN 30
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-MOORISH SPAIN 61
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE INQUISITION 83
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THEIR CATHOLIC MAJESTIES 100
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-UNITED SPAIN 140
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MODERN SPAIN 162
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-COLONIAL SPAIN 206
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE 225
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE PHILIPPINES 251
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-THE HISPANO-AMERICAN WAR 320
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-SPANISH ART, LITERATURE, AND SPORT 351
-
-I. Painting and Architecture 351
-
-II. Spanish Literature 370
-
-III. Sport 379
-
-APPENDIX 393
-
-
-
-
-THE HISTORY OF SPAIN
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-SPAIN IN ANTIQUITY
-
-THE FIRST LAWS AND THE FIRST INVADERS--GREEKS, PHŒNICIANS, ROMANS AND
-GOTHS
-
-
-Hispania was the name by which the Romans called the peninsula which is
-made up of Spain and Portugal. The origin of the name is disputed. To
-the Greeks the country was known as Hesperia--the Land of the Setting
-Sun. According to Mariana,[1] Spain is called after its founder,
-Hispanus, a son or grandson of Hercules. But, for reasons hereinafter
-related, better authorities derive it from the Phœnician _Span_.
-
-There is a legend which Mariana recites, to the effect that the primal
-laws of Spain were written in verse, and framed six thousand years
-before the beginning of Time. To medieval makers of chronicles, Tubal,
-fifth son of Japhet, was the first to set foot on its shore. But earlier
-historians, ignorant of Noah’s descendant, and, it may be, better
-informed, hold that after the episodes connected with the Golden Fleece,
-the Argonauts, guided by Hercules, sailed the seas and loitered a while
-in Spain, where they were joined by refugees escaping from the totter
-and fall of Troy. Black was their national color. It has been retained
-in the mantillas of to-day. After the Greek adventurers came the
-Phœnicians. The latter, a peaceful people, born traders, as are all of
-Semitic origin, founded a colony at Gaddir (Cadiz). In a remoter era
-they had established themselves at Canaan, where they built Bylos, Sidon
-and Tyre. From Tyre emigrants moved to Africa. Their headquarters was
-Kartha-Hadath, literally Newtown, that Carthage in whose ruins Marius
-was to weep. The Phœnicians, as has been noted, were a peaceful people.
-Under a burning sun their younger brothers developed into tigers. They
-had the storm for ally. They ravaged the coast like whirlwinds. They
-took Sicily, then Sardinia. Presently there was a quarrel at Gaddir. It
-was only natural that the Phœnicians should ask aid of their relatives.
-The Carthaginians responded, and, finding the country to their taste,
-took possession of it on their own account. To the Romans, with whom
-already they had crossed swords, they said nothing of this new
-possession. It seemed wiser to leave it unmentioned than to guard it
-with protecting, yet disclosive, treaties. More than once they scuttled
-their triremes--suspicious sails were following them to its shore. From
-this vigilance the name of Spain is derived. In Punic, _Span_ signifies
-hidden.
-
-The hiding of Spain was possible when the Romans were still in the
-nursery. But when the Romans grew up, when they had conquered Greece,
-and all of Italy was theirs, their enterprises developed. Up to this
-time the two nations had been almost allies. At once they were open
-rivals. It was a question between them as to whom the world should
-belong.
-
-The arguments on this subject, known as the Punic Wars, were three in
-number. The first resulted in a loss of Sicily and Sardinia. In the
-second, Spain went. In the third, Carthage was razed to the ground.
-
-It was with the conquest of Sagentum--a conquest not achieved until the
-surviving inhabitants of that beleaguered city had committed
-suicide--that annexation began. Then, slowly, at one time advancing, at
-another retreating, now defeated, now defeating, the Romans promenaded
-their eagles down the coast. Scipio came and watched the
-self-destruction of the Numantians, as Hannibal had watched the
-Sagentums fall. Pompey, boasting that he had made the Republic mistress
-of a thousand towns, came too; and after him Cæsar, who, long before, as
-simple quæstor, had wept at Cadiz because of Alexander, who at his age
-had conquered the world--Cæsar, his face blanched with tireless
-debauches, came back and gave the land its _coup de grace_. In this
-fashion, with an unhealed wound in every province, Spain crawled down to
-Augustus’s feet. A toga was thrown over her. When it was withdrawn the
-wounds had healed. She was a Roman province, the most flourishing,
-perhaps, and surely the most fair.
-
-The fusion of the two peoples was immediate. The native soldiery were
-sent off to bleed in the four corners of the globe, to that Ultima Thule
-where the Britons lived and which it took years to reach, or nearer home
-in Gaul, or else far to the north among the Teuton States; and, in the
-absence of an element which might have turned ugly, the Romans found it
-easy work to open school. They had always been partial to Greek
-learning, and they inculcated it on the slightest pretext. They imported
-their borrowed Pantheon, their local Hercules, all the metamorphosed and
-irritable gods, and with becoming liberality added to them those
-divinities whom their adopted children most revered. It was in this way
-that the fusion of the two races came about. When Augustus assumed the
-purple, throughout the entire peninsula Latin was generally in use. It
-was not of the purest, to be sure. It had been beaten in with the sword,
-the accent was rough and the construction bristled with barbarisms; but
-still it was Latin, and needed only a generation of sandpaper to become
-polished and refined. But perhaps the least recognized factor in the
-fusion of the two peoples was a growing and common taste for polite
-literature. Such as the Romans possessed was, like their architecture,
-their science, philosophy and religion, borrowed outright from the
-Greeks. They were hungry for new ideas. These the Spaniards undertook to
-provide. They had descended from a race whose fabulous laws were written
-in verse, and something of that legendary inspiration must have
-accompanied them through ages of preceding strife, for suddenly Boetica
-was peopled with poets. In connection with this it may be noted that,
-apart from the crop of Augustan rhymsters and essayists, almost
-everything in the way of literature which Rome subsequently produced is
-the work of Spaniards. Lucan and the Senecas were Boeticans--Martial,
-Florus, Quintillian, Pomponius Mila were all of that race. J’en passe et
-des meilleurs. The Romans, trained by the Greeks, were, it is true, the
-teachers. Under their heavy hand the young Andalusians lost their way
-among the clouds of Aristophanes, just as we have done ourselves; they
-spouted the _Tityre tu_, and the _arma virum_, they followed the Odyssey
-and learned that, in ages as remote to them as they are to us, Ulysses
-had visited their coast. Indeed the Romans did what they could, and if
-their pupils surpassed them it was owing to the lack-luster of their own
-imaginations. But the education of backward Spain was not limited to
-Greek poets and Augustan bores. Lessons in drawing were given, not as an
-extra, but as part of the ordinary curriculum. The sciences, too, were
-taught, the blackboard was brought into use, and Euclid--another
-Greek--was expounded on the very soil that under newer conquerors was to
-produce the charms and seductions of Algebra. Added to this, industry
-was not neglected. The Romans got from them not poets alone, but
-woolens, calicoes, and barbers too, emperors even. Trajan was an
-Andalou, so was Hadrian, and so also was that sceptered misanthrope
-Marcus Aurelius. As for arms, it is written in blood that the Romans
-would have no others than those which came from Spain. The plebs dressed
-themselves there. Strabo says that all the ready-made clothing came from
-Tarragona. From Malaga, which in a fair wind was but six days’ sail from
-the Tiber’s mouth, came potted herring, fat, black grapes that stained
-the chin, and wax yellow as amber. From Cadiz came the rarest purple,
-wine headier than Falernian, honey sweeter than that of Hymettus, and
-jars of pale, transparent oil. To Iviça the Romans sent their togas;
-there was a baphia there, a dyeing establishment, which, to be simply
-charming, needed but the signboard _Morituri te salutamus_. And from the
-banks of the Betis there came for the lupanars girls with the Orient in
-their eyes, and lips that said “Drink me.” In this pleasant fashion
-Rome, after conquering Spain, sat down to banquet on her products. The
-Imperial City then was not unlike a professional pugilist who is unable
-to find a worthy opponent; possible rivals had been slugged into
-subjection. Perhaps she was weary, too. However great the future of a
-combatant may be, there comes an hour when contention palls and peace
-has charms. In any event, Rome at that time was more occupied in
-assimilating her dominions than in extending the wonders of her sway.
-And it was during this caprice that Spain found her fifty races fused in
-one. On the distant throne was a procession of despots, terribly
-tyrannical, yet doing what good they could. In return for flowers,
-fruits and pretty girls, they gave roads, aqueducts, arenas, games and
-vice. Claud introduced new fashions; Nero, the saturnalia. Each of the
-emperors did what he was able, even to Hadrian, who increased the number
-of Jews. It was during his reign that were felt the first tremors of
-that cataclysm in which antiquity was to disappear. Rome was so
-thoroughly mistress of the world that to master her Nature had to
-produce new races. The parturitions, as we know, were successful.
-Already the blue victorious eyes of Vandal and of Goth were peering down
-at Rome; already they had whispered together, and over the hydromel had
-drunk to her fall.
-
-The Goths were a wonderful people. When they first appear in history
-their hair was tossed and tangled by the salt winds of the Baltic.
-Later, when in tattered furs they issued from the fens of the Danube,
-they startled the hardiest warriors of the world, the descendants of
-that nursling of the gaunt she-wolf. Little by little from vagabond
-herders they consolidated first into tribes, then into a nation, finally
-into an army that beat at the gates of Rome. There they loitered a
-moment, a century at most. When they receded again with plunder and with
-slaves they left an emperor behind. Soon they were more turbulent than
-ever. They swept over antiquity like a tide, their waves subsiding only
-to rise anew. And just as the earth was oscillating beneath their
-weight, from the steppes of Tartary issued cyclones of Huns. Where they
-passed, the plains remained forever bare. In the shock of their
-onslaught the empire of the Goths was sundered. Some of them, the
-Ostrogoths, went back to their cattle, others, the Visigoths, went down
-to have another word with Rome. It was then that their cousins the
-Vandals got their fingers on her throat and frightened the world with
-her cries. In the strain of incessant shrieks the Imperial City fell.
-From out the ruins a mitered prelate dragged a throne. Paganism had been
-strangled; antiquity was dead; new creeds and new races were
-refurbishing the world. Among the latter the Goths still prowled. In the
-advance through the centuries, in the journey from the Baltic to the
-Mediterranean, in the friction with the Attic refinement which the
-Romans had acquired, the Goths left some of their barbarism on the
-road--not much, however. Historians have it that when they took
-possession of Spain they manifested a love of art, a desire for culture,
-and that they affected the manners and usages of polite society. But
-historians are privileged liars. The majority of those who have treated
-the subject admired the Goths because they fancied them Christians, and
-in the admiration they placed them in flattering contrast to their
-predecessors who were pagans, and to their successors who were
-Muhammadans. As a matter of fact--one that is amply attested in local
-chronicles--they were coarse, illiterate and stupid as carps; moreover,
-they were not Christians, they were Arians, and they were Arians
-precisely as they were Goths--they were born so. To the dogma of the
-Trinity and the consubstantiability or non-consubstantiability of Jesus
-the Christ they were as ignorant as of the formation of the earth.
-Throughout Europe at that time not a thread of light was discernible.
-The dark ages had begun. In the general obscurity the Goths were not a
-bit more brilliant than their neighbors. Under their hand civilization
-disappeared; in return they gave the Spanish nothing but gutturals and a
-taste for chicanery. In ninety and nine cases, the specimens of
-architecture which cheap-trippers admire as due to them are of Saracen
-workmanship. The monuments which they did erect are not disproportioned
-perhaps; yet, whatever the casuist may affirm, there is still a margin
-between the commonplace and the beautiful. In brief, to the Visigoths
-the world owes less than nothing. They let Andalusia retrograde for
-three hundred years, and delayed the discovery and development of
-America. Previous to their coming Cadiz had been a famous seaport. The
-Romans called it The Ship of Stone. Its sons had been immemorial
-explorers. The presentiment of another land across the sea was theirs by
-intuition. They were constantly extending their expeditions. They were
-in love with the sunset, they sailed as near it as they could, returned
-for more provisions, and sailed again; nearer, and ever nearer that way.
-To the Church the theory of the antipodes was an abominable heresy. It
-was taught that the earth was a flat parallelogram, its extremities
-walled by mountains that supported the skies. Lactance was particularly
-vehement on this point, so too was St. Jerome. Vergilius in asserting
-the contrary threw Christendom into indignant convulsions. It may be
-remembered that the most serious obstacle which Columbus subsequently
-encountered lay in the decisions of the Fathers. Now Cadiz had been more
-or less converted before the advent of the Visigoths, but it had not for
-that reason put aside its habits and customs. It continued to be
-essentially maritime; but when the Visigoths came, navigation
-languished, the Ship of Stone no longer turned to the west, it foundered
-in a sea of ignorance which was then undiked, and the possible discovery
-of America was indefinitely postponed. By way of compensation, the
-Visigoths framed a code of laws the spirit of which still survives, and
-which is serviceable in showing that the framers possessed two distinct
-traits, a love of agriculture and a hatred of Jews. Traits which are
-significant when it is understood that it was through agriculture they
-were supported and through the Jews they were overthrown. It was the
-Jews that beckoned the Berbers and their masters the Arabs--the Moors,
-as those Arabs were called who had deserted the deserts for the African
-Riviera.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-THE CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA
-
-THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS--CORDOVA IN THE MIDDLE AGES--THE GLORIES OF
-AZ ZAHRA--THE RISE OF ALMANZOR
-
-
-It was in 712 that Spain, after remaining for nearly three centuries in
-the possession of the Visigoths, fell under the yoke of the Saracens.
-For some time past, from a palace at Tandjah (Tangiers), a Mussulman
-emir had been eyeing the strip of blue water which alone separated him
-from that Andalusia which, like the other parts of this world and all of
-the next, had been promised to the followers of Muhammad. The invasion
-that ensued was singularly pacific. The enthusiasm which distinguished
-the youthful period of Muhammadism might account for the conquest which
-followed, even if we could not assign additional causes--the factions
-into which the Goths had become divided, the resentment of disappointed
-pretenders to the throne, the provocations of one Count Julian, whose
-daughter, seduced by Roderic, the last of the Gothic kings, caused him,
-it is said, to urge the Moors to come over. It is more surprising that a
-remnant of this ancient monarchy should not only have preserved its
-national liberty and name in the northern mountains, but waged for some
-centuries a successful, and generally an offensive, warfare against the
-conquerors, till the balance was completely turned in its favor and the
-Moors were compelled to maintain almost as obstinate and protracted a
-contest for a small portion of the peninsula. But the Arabian monarchs
-of Cordova found in their success and imagined security a pretext for
-indolence; even in the cultivation of science and contemplation of the
-magnificent architecture of their mosques and palaces they forgot their
-poor but daring enemies in the Asturias; while, according to the nature
-of despotism, the fruits of wisdom or bravery in one generation were
-lost in the follies and effeminacy of the next. Their kingdom was
-dismembered by successful rebels, who formed the states of Toledo,
-Huesca, Saragossa, and others less eminent; and these, in their own
-mutual contests, not only relaxed their natural enmity toward the
-Christian princes, but sometimes sought their alliance.
-
-Be that as it may, of all who had entered Spain, whether Greek,
-Phœnician, Vandal or Goth, the Moors were the most tolerant. The worship
-of God was undisturbed. The temples were not only preserved, new ones
-were built. In every town they entered, presto! a mosque and a school,
-and mosques and schools that were entrancing as song. On the banks of
-the Betis, renamed the Great River, Al-Ouad-al-Kebyr (Guadalquivir),
-twelve hundred villages bloomed like roses in June. From three hundred
-thousand filigreed pulpits the glory of Allah, and of Muhammad his
-prophet, was daily proclaimed.
-
-They were superb fellows, these Moors. In earlier ages the restless
-Bedouins, their ancestors, were rather fierce, and when the degenerate
-Sabaism they professed was put aside for the lessons of Muhammad, they
-were not only fierce, they were fanatic as well. A drop of blood shed
-for Allah, equaled, they were taught, whole months of fasting and of
-prayer. Thereafter, they preached with the scimiter. But in time, that
-great emollient, they grew less dogmatic. In the ninth century the court
-of Haroûn al Raschid was a free academy in which all the arts were
-cultivated and enjoyed. Under the Moors, Cordova surpassed Bagdad.
-
-In the tenth century it was the most beautiful and most civilized city
-of Europe. Concerning it Burke, in his “History of Spain”--a work to
-which we are much indebted--writes as follows:
-
- There was the Caliph’s Palace of Flowers, his Palace of
- Contentment, his Palace of Lovers, and, most beautiful of all, the
- Palace of Damascus. Rich and poor met in the Mezquita, the noblest
- place of worship then standing in Europe, with its twelve hundred
- marble columns, and its twenty brazen doors; the vast interior
- resplendent with porphyry and jasper and many-colored precious
- stones, the walls glittering with harmonious mosaics, the air
- perfumed with incense, the courtyards leafy with groves of orange
- trees--showing apples of gold in pictures of silver. Throughout the
- city, there were fountains, basins, baths, with cold water brought
- from the neighboring mountains, already carried in the leaden pipes
- that are the highest triumph of the modern plumber.
-
-But more wonderful even than Cordova itself was the suburb and palace of
-Az Zahra. For five-and-twenty years the Caliph Abdur Rahman devoted to
-the building of this royal fancy one-third of the revenues of the
-State; and the work, on his death, was piously continued by his son,
-who devoted the first fifteen years of his reign to its completion. For
-forty years ten thousand workmen are said to have toiled day by day, and
-the record of the refinement as well as the magnificence of the
-structure, as it approached completion, almost passes belief. It is said
-that in a moment of exaltation the Caliph gave orders for the removal of
-the great mountain at whose foot the fairy city was built, as the dark
-shade of the forests that covered its sides overshadowed the gilded
-palace of his creation.
-
-Convinced of the impossibility of his enterprise, An Nasir was content
-that all the oaks and beech trees that grew on the mountain side should
-be rooted up; and that fig trees, and almonds, and pomegranates should
-be planted in their place; and thus the very hills and forests of Az
-Zahra were decked with blossom and beauty.
-
-Travelers from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions, princes,
-embassadors, merchants, pilgrims, theologians and poets, all agreed that
-they had never seen in the course of their travels anything that could
-be compared with Az Zahra, and that no imagination, however fertile,
-could have formed an idea of its beauties. Of this marvelous creation of
-Art and Fancy not one stone remains upon another--not a vestige to mark
-the spot on which it stood; and it is hard to reconstruct from the dry
-records of Arab historians the fairy edifice of which we are told no
-words could paint the magnificence. According to these authors the
-inclosing wall of the palace was four thousand feet in length from east
-to west, and two thousand two hundred feet from north to south. The
-greater part of this space was occupied by gardens, with their marble
-fountains, kiosks and ornaments of various kinds, not inferior in beauty
-to the more strictly architectural parts of the building.
-
-Four thousand three hundred columns of the rarest and most precious
-marbles supported the roof of the palace; of these some were brought
-from Africa, some from Rome, and many were presented by the Emperor at
-Constantinople to Abdur Rahman. The halls were paved with marble,
-disposed in a thousand varied patterns. The walls were of the same
-material, and ornamented with friezes of the most brilliant colors. The
-ceilings, constructed of cedar, were enriched with gilding on an azure
-ground, with damasked work and interlacing designs. Everything, in
-short, that the wealth and resources of the Caliph could command was
-lavished on this favorite retreat, and all that the art of
-Constantinople and Bagdad could contribute to aid the taste and
-executive skill of the Spanish Arabs was enlisted to make it the most
-perfect work of its age. Did this palace of Zahra now remain to us, says
-Mr. Fergusson, we could afford to despise the Alhambra and all the other
-works of the declining ages of Moorish art.
-
-It was here that Abdur Rahman and Nasir received Sancho the Fat, and
-Theuda, queen of Navarre, the envoys from Charles the Simple of France,
-and the embassadors from the Emperor Constantine at Constantinople. The
-reception of these imperial visitors is said to have been one of the
-most magnificent ceremonies of that magnificent court. The orator who
-had been at first intrusted with the speech of ceremonial greeting was
-actually struck dumb by the grandeur of the scene, and his place was
-taken by a less impressionable rhetorician.
-
-Nor was it only material splendor that was to be found at Cordova. At a
-time when Christian Europe was steeped in ignorance and barbarism, in
-superstition and prejudice, every branch of science was studied under
-the favor and protection of the Ommeyad Caliphs. Medicine, surgery,
-botany, chemistry, poetry, the arts, philosophy, literature, all
-flourished at the court and city of Cordova. Agriculture was cultivated
-with a perfection, both theoretical and practical, which is apparent
-from the works of contemporary Arab writers. The Silo, so lately
-introduced into England as a valuable agricultural novelty, is not only
-the invention of the Arabs, but the very name is Arabic, as is that of
-the Azequia and of the Noria of modern Spain. Both the second and the
-third Abdur Rahman were passionately fond of gardening and
-tree-planting; and seeds, roots and cuttings were brought from all parts
-of the world and acclimatized in the gardens at Cordova. A pomegranate
-of peculiar excellence, the Safari, which was introduced by the second
-Abdur Rahman from Damascus, still maintains its superiority, and is
-known in Spain to the present day as the Granada Zafari.
-
-Thus, in small things as in great, the Arabs of Cordova stood
-immeasurably above every other people or any other government in Europe.
-Yet their influence unhappily was but small. They surpassed, but they
-did not lead. The very greatness of their superiority rendered their
-example fruitless. Medieval chivalry, indeed, was largely the result of
-their influence in Spain. But chivalry as an institution had itself
-decayed long before a new-born Europe had attained to the material and
-moral perfection of the great Emirs of Cordova. Their political
-organization was unadapted to the needs or the aspirations of Western
-Europe, and contained within itself the elements, not of development,
-but of decay. Their civilization perished, and left no heirs behind
-it--and its place knows it no more.
-
-The reign of Hakam II., the son and successor of the great Caliph, was
-tranquil, prosperous and honorable, the golden age of Arab literature in
-Spain. The king was above all things a student, living the life almost
-of a recluse in his splendid retreat at Az Zahra, and concerning himself
-rather with the collection of books for his celebrated library at
-Cordova than with the cares of State and the excitements of war. He sent
-agents to every city in the East to buy rare manuscripts and bring them
-back to Cordova. When he could not acquire originals he procured copies,
-and every book was carefully catalogued and worthily lodged. Hakam not
-only built libraries, but, unlike many modern collectors, he is said to
-have read and even to have annotated the books that they contained; but
-as their number exceeded four hundred thousand, he must have been a
-remarkably rapid student.
-
-The peaceful disposition of the new Caliph emboldened his Christian
-neighbors and tributaries to disregard the old treaties and to assert
-their independence of Cordova. But the armies of Hakam were able to make
-his rights respected, and the treaties were reaffirmed and observed.
-Many were the embassies that were received at Cordova from rival
-Christian chiefs; and Sancho of Leon, Fernan Gonzalez of Castile, Garcia
-of Navarre, Rodrigo Velasquez of Galicia, and finally Ordoño the Bad,
-Pretender to the crown of Leon, were all represented at the court of Az
-Zahra.
-
-The reign of this royal scholar was peaceful and prosperous; but kingly
-power tends to decline in libraries, and when Hakam ceased to build and
-to annotate, and his kingdom devolved upon his son, the royal authority
-passed not into the hands of the young Hisham, who was only nine years
-of age at the time of his father’s death, but into those of the Sultana
-Sobeyra and of her favorite, Ibn-abu-amir, who is known to later
-generations by the proud title of Almanzor.[2]
-
-Ibn-abu-amir began his career as a poor student at the University of
-Cordova. Of respectable birth and parentage, filled with noble ambition,
-born for empire and command, the youth became a court scribe, and,
-attracting the attention of the all-powerful Sobeyra by the charm of his
-manner and his nobility of bearing, he soon rose to power and
-distinction in the palace; and as Master of the Mint, and afterward as
-Commander of the City Guard, he found means to render himself
-indispensable, as he had always been agreeable, to the harem. Nor was
-the young courtier less acceptable to the Caliph. Intrusted by him on a
-critical occasion with the supremely difficult mission of comptrolling
-the expenditure of the army in Africa, where the general-in-chief had
-proved over-prodigal or over-rapacious, Ibn-abu-amir acquitted himself
-with such extraordinary skill and tact that he won the respect and
-admiration, not only of the Caliph whose treasury he protected, but of
-the general whose extravagance he checked, and even of the common
-soldiers of the army, who are not usually drawn to a civilian
-superintendent, or to a reforming treasury official from headquarters.
-The expenses were curtailed; but the campaign was successful, and the
-victorious general and the yet more victorious Cadi shared on equal
-terms the honor of a triumphal entry into the capital.
-
-On the death of Hakam, in September, 976, Ibn-abu-amir showed no less
-than his usual tact and vigor in suppressing a palace intrigue and
-placing the young Hisham on the throne of his father. The Caliph was but
-twelve years of age, and his powerful guardian, supported by the harem,
-beloved by the people, and feared by the vanquished conspirators, took
-upon himself the entire administration of the kingdom, repealed some
-obnoxious taxes, reformed the organization of the army, and sought to
-confirm and establish his power by a war against his neighbors in the
-north. The peace which had so long prevailed between Moor and Christian
-was thus rudely broken, and the Moslem once more carried his arms across
-the northern frontier. The campaign was eminently successful.
-Ibn-abu-amir, who contrived not only to vanquish his enemies but to
-please his friends, became at once the master of the palace and of the
-army. The inevitable critic was found to say that the victor was a
-diplomatist and a lawyer rather than a great general; but he was
-certainly a great leader of men, and if he was at any time unskilled in
-the conduct of a battle, he owned from the first that higher skill of
-knowing whom to trust with command. Nor was he less remarkable for his
-true military virtue of constant clemency to the vanquished.
-
-In two years after the death of Hakam, Almanzor had attained the
-position of the greatest of the _maires du palais_ of early France, and
-he ruled all Muhammadan Spain in the name of young Hisham, whose throne
-he forbore to occupy and whose person was safe in his custody. But if
-Almanzor was not a dilettante like Abdur Rahman II., nor a collector of
-MSS. like Hakam, he was no vulgar fighter like the early kings of Leon
-or of Navarre. A library of books accompanied him in all his campaigns;
-literature, science, and the arts were munificently patronized at court;
-a university or high school was established at Cordova, where the great
-mosque was enlarged for the accommodation of an increasing number of
-worshipers. Yet in one thing did he show his weakness. He could afford
-to have no enemies.
-
-Though the idol of the army, the lover of the queen, the prefect of the
-city, the guardian of the person of the Caliph, Almanzor yet found it
-necessary to conciliate the theologians; and the theologians were only
-conciliated by the delivery of the great library of Hakam into the hands
-of the Ulema. The shelves were ransacked for works on astrology and
-magic, on natural philosophy, and the forbidden sciences, and after an
-inquisition as formal and as thorough and probably no more intelligent
-than that which was conducted by the curate and the barber in the house
-of Don Quixote, tens of thousands of priceless volumes were publicly
-committed to the flames.
-
-Nor did Almanzor neglect the more practical or more direct means of
-maintaining his power. The army was filled with bold recruits from
-Africa, and renegades from the Christian provinces of the north. The
-organization and equipment of the regiments was constantly improved; and
-the troops were ever loyal to their civilian benefactor. Ghalib, the
-Commander-in-chief, having sought to overthrow the supreme administrator
-of the kingdom, was vanquished and slain in battle (981). The Caliph was
-practically a prisoner in his own palace, and was encouraged by his
-guardian and his friends, both in the harem and in the mosque, to devote
-himself entirely to a religious life, and abandon the administration of
-his kingdom to the Hájib, who now, feeling himself entirely secure at
-home, turned his arms once more against the Christians on the northern
-frontiers; and it was on his return to Cordova, after his greeted with
-the well-known title of Almanzor.
-
-In 984 he compelled Bermudo II. of Leon to become his tributary. In 985
-he turned his attention to Catalonia, and after a brief but brilliant
-campaign he made himself master of Barcelona. Two years later (987),
-Bermudo having dismissed his Moslem guards and thrown off his allegiance
-to Cordova, Almanzor marched into the northwest, and after sacking
-Coimbra, overran Leon, entirely destroyed the capital city, and
-compelled the Christian king to take refuge in the wild fastnesses of
-the Asturias.
-
-Meanwhile, at Cordova, the power of Almanzor became year by year more
-complete. Victorious in Africa as well as in Spain, this heaven-born
-general was as skillful in the council chamber as be was in the field.
-The iron hand was ever clad in a silken glove. His ambition was content
-with the substance of power, and with the gradual assumption
-
-[Illustration: SPAIN & PORTUGAL.]
-
-of any external show of supreme authority in the State. In 991 he
-abandoned the office and title of Hajib to his son, Abdul Malik. In 992
-his seal took the place of that of the monarch on all documents of
-State. In 993 he assumed the royal cognomen of Mowayad. Two years later
-he arrogated to himself alone the title of Said; and in 996 he ventured
-a step further, and assumed the title of Malik Karim, or king.
-
-But in 996 Almanzor was at length confronted by a rival. Sobeyra, the
-Navarrese Sultana, once his mistress, was now his deadly enemy, and she
-had determined that the queen, and not the minister, should reign
-supreme in the palace. Almanzor was to be destroyed. Hakam, a feeble and
-effeminate youth, was easily won over by the harem, who urged him to
-show the strength that he was so far from possessing, by espousing the
-cause of his mother against his guardian. The queen was assured of
-victory. The treasury was at the disposal of the conspirators. A
-military rival was secretly summoned from Africa. The minister was
-banished from the royal presence. The palace was already jubilant.
-
-But the palace reckoned without Almanzor. Making his way into Hakam’s
-chamber, more charming, more persuasive, more resolute than ever,
-Almanzor prevailed upon the Caliph not only to restore him to his
-confidence, but to empower him, by a solemn instrument under the royal
-sign-manual, to assume the government of the kingdom. Sobeyra, defeated
-but unharmed by her victorious and generous rival, retired to a
-cloister; and Almanzor, contemptuously leaving to one of his lieutenants
-the task of vanquishing his subsidized rival in Africa, set forth upon
-the most memorable of all his many expeditions against Christian Spain
-(July 3, 997).
-
-Making his way, at the head of an army, through Lusitania into far away
-Galicia, he took Corunna, and destroyed the great Christian church and
-city of Santiago de Compostella, the most sacred spot in all Spain, and
-sent the famous bells which had called so many Christian pilgrims to
-prayer and praise to be converted into lamps to illuminate the Moslem
-worshipers in the mosque at Cordova.
-
-Five years later, in 1002, after an uncertain battle, Almanzor died in
-harness, if not actually in the ranks, bowed down by mortal disease,
-unhurt by the arm of the enemy. The relief of the Christians at his
-death was unspeakable; and is well expressed, says Mr. Poole, in the
-simple comment of the Monkish annalist, “In 1002 died Almanzor, and was
-buried in Hell.”
-
-In force of character, in power of persuasion, in tact, in vigor, in
-that capacity for command that is only found in noble natures, Almanzor
-has no rival among the Regents of Spain. His rise is a romance; his
-power a marvel; his justice a proverb. He was a brilliant financier; a
-successful favorite; a liberal patron; a stern disciplinarian; a
-heaven-born courtier; an accomplished general; and no one of the great
-commanders of Spain, not Gonsalvo de Aguilar himself, was more uniformly
-successful in the field than this lawyer’s clerk of Cordova.
-
-Hisham, in confinement at Az Zahra, was still the titular Caliph of the
-West, but Almanzor was succeeded as commander-in-chief and virtual ruler
-of the country by his favorite son, his companion-in-arms, and the hero
-of an African campaign, Abdul Malik Almudaffar, the Hajib of 991. But
-the glory of Cordova had departed. Abdul Malik indeed ruled in his
-father’s place for six years. But on his death, in 1008, he was
-succeeded by his half-brother, Abdur Rahman, who, as the son of a
-Christian princess, was mistrusted both by the palace and by the people;
-and the country became a prey to anarchy.
-
-Cordova was sacked. The Caliph was imprisoned; rebellions, poisonings,
-crucifixions, civil war, bigotry and skepticism, the insolence of
-wealth, the insolence of power, a Mahdi and a Wahdi, Christian alliance,
-Berber domination, Slav mutineers, African interference, puppet princes,
-all these things vexed the Spanish Moslems for thirty disastrous years;
-while a number of weak but independent sovereignties arose on the ruins
-of the great Caliphate of the West.
-
-The confused annals of the last thirty years of the rule of the
-Ommeyades are mere records of blood and of shame, a pitiful story of
-departed greatness.
-
-On the death of Hisham II., the Romulus Augustulus of Imperial Cordova,
-Moslem Spain was divided into a number of petty kingdoms, Malaga,
-Algeciras, Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Badajoz, Saragossa, the Balearic
-Islands, Valencia, Murcia, Almeria, and Granada. And each of these
-cities and kingdoms made unceasing war one upon another.
-
-From the death of Hisham, if not from the death of Almanzor, the centre
-of interest in the history of Spain is shifted from Cordova to Castile.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-MEDIEVAL SPAIN
-
-THE FOUNDERS OF MODERN SPAIN--THE KINGDOMS OF THE ASTURIAS AND OF
-LEON--THE DEFEAT AT RONCESVALLES--THE CID CAMPEADOR
-
-
-The Crescent had conquered, but the Cross endured. The refuge of the
-latter was in the Asturias, There--eight or ten years after the death of
-the last of the Gothic kings--Pelayo, one of the early heroes of Spanish
-history, was reigning over refugees from Moslem rule. It was these
-refugees who laid the foundation of modern Spain, and it is related that
-in their fastness at Covadonga, thirty of them, with Pelayo at their
-head, actually routed, if they did not destroy, an entire army of four
-hundred thousand Moslem besiegers.
-
-The story is of course mythological, but the good fortune of Pelayo did
-much to kindle the national spirit by which ultimately Spain was
-conquered for the Spaniards, and thus the story, if critically false,
-becomes metaphorically true.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Nor [says Burke] do the Arabs seem to have made any attempt to retrieve
-or avenge the fortunes of the day. Well satisfied, no doubt, with their
-unopposed dominion over the rich plains of the genial south country,
-they were willing to abandon the bleak and inhospitable mountains to
-their wild inhabitants and the emboldened refugees whom they sheltered.
-Be the reason what it may, Pelayo seems to have had peace all the days
-of his life after his victory at Covadonga in 718. Prudently confining
-his attention to the development of his little kingdom, he reigned, it
-is said, for nineteen years at Cangas, and, dying in 737, was peacefully
-succeeded by his son Favila.
-
-Pelayo, no doubt, was but a robber chieftain, a petty mountain prince,
-and the legends of his royal descent are of later date, and of obviously
-spurious manufacture; but Pelayo needs no tinsel to adorn his crown. He
-was the founder of the Spanish monarchy.
-
-Meanwhile, in the recesses of the Pyrenees, a second Christian kingdom,
-that of Navarre, had been founded by Garcias Iniguez, which, together
-with Catalonia and Aragon, Charlemagne a little later (778) entered and
-subdued. In repassing the Pyrenees, however, the Navarrese, led by
-Fortun Garcias, fell upon the Frankish troops and cut to pieces the
-rearguard, and even, it is said, the main body of the army.
-
-How far the Spanish Christians were aided, as it has been stated they
-were, by the Moors, it is impossible to discover. The fact of such an
-alliance, in itself sufficiently improbable, is quite unnecessary to
-explain the ever-famous defeat at Roncesvalles.
-
-Nor can we speak with much greater confidence of the prowess or even of
-the existence of the equally famous Roland, in the ranks of the invading
-or evading army; or of that of the no less celebrated Bernardo del
-Carpio in the ranks of the pursuers.
-
-Taillefer, who sang the song of Roland upon the battlefield of Hastings,
-and Terouldes, whose thirteenth century epic suggested the poems of
-Pulci, of Boiardo, and of greatest Ariosto, all these have made Roland
-one of the favorite heroes of the Middle Ages. But in the story, as it
-is told in the Spanish ballads, it is Bernardo del Carpio, the nephew of
-the chaste but pusillanimous Alfonso, who is the true hero of
-Roncesvalles, and who not only repulsed the host of Charlemagne, but
-caught up the invulnerable Roland in his arms, and squeezed him to death
-before his army. No carpet knight or courtier was Bernardo, but a true
-Cantabrian mountaineer.
-
-In 790 Alfonso II., the great-grandson of the great Pelayo, then king of
-Oviedo, repulsed the Mussulman army with great slaughter, and abolished
-the ignominious tribute of one hundred virgins, an annual tribute paid
-to the Muhammadan ruler, fifty virgins being of noble and fifty of base
-or ignoble birth. From this circumstance is derived, by some historians,
-his surname of the Chaste; attributed by others to his having made a
-solemn vow of virginity, and observed it, even in marriage. This vow,
-and the austere temper in which it probably originated, had considerable
-influence over Alfonso’s life. He so deeply resented his sister Ximena’s
-private marriage with a subject, the Count of Saldanha, that he shut her
-up in a convent; and putting out her husband’s eyes, sentenced him to
-perpetual imprisonment.
-
-The royal line of Navarre or Sobrarve was at this time extinct, Ximenes
-Garcias, the grandson of Fortun Garcias, having died without children.
-The nobles availed themselves of the opportunity to establish the famous
-code entitled “Los Fueros de Sobrarve”--the laws of Sobrarve--which
-subsequently became the groundwork of the liberties of Aragon. Navarre
-was soon afterward recovered by the Moors, and Sobrarve included in the
-Spanish March.
-
-Alfonso ruled upward of fifty years. Incessant wars now followed between
-the followers of the Cross and the Crescent, and a frenzy for martyrdom
-on the part of the Christians had to be repressed by a Christian
-archbishop at the solemn request of the Cadis.
-
-Garcia of Oviedo died without children shortly after his accession; when
-his brother Ordoño II. reunited the whole of his father’s dominions. He
-transferred the seat of government to Leon, and altered the title of
-King of Oviedo into that of King of Leon.
-
-This Ordoño abandoned the peaceful policy of his greater father, and
-undertook many expeditions with varying and uncertain success against
-the Arabs. He plundered Merida in 917, and routed the Berbers in
-Southern Spain in 918. Yet three years later, at Val de Junqueras (921),
-near Pamplona, the Christians suffered disastrous defeat. The usual
-rebellion at home was appeased by the treacherous execution or murder of
-no less than four counts of Castile in 922, and was followed by the
-king’s death in 923.
-
-Of Fruela II. (923-925), Alfonso IV. (925-930), and Ramiro II.
-(930-950), little need be said, but that they lived and reigned as kings
-of Leon.
-
-To Ramiro, however, is due, at least, the honor of an authentic victory
-over the Moslem forces of the great Caliph, Abdur Rahman an Nasir (939),
-at Simancas, and afterward in the same year at Alhandega.
-
-Ramiro, after the usual rebellion, abdicated, in 950, in favor of his
-son Ordoño--who had married Urraca, daughter of the principal rebel of
-the day, Fernan Gonzalez, count of Castile--and who succeeded his father
-as Ordoño III.
-
-But decapitation was a far more certain way of suppressing rebellion
-than matrimony; and Fernan Gonzalez lived to intrigue against his
-daughter and her royal husband in favor of Sancho, a younger brother of
-the king. Ordoño, however, held his own against his brother, and
-revenged himself on his father-in-law, by repudiating his wife; who,
-with her personal and family grievances, was promptly _acquired_ by
-Sancho, who succeeded, on his brother’s death, to the crown of which he
-had failed to possess himself by force. But even as a legitimate
-sovereign, Sancho, surnamed the Fat, was not allowed to reign in peace.
-He was driven from his kingdom by that most versatile rebel, Count
-Fernan Gonzalez, and sought refuge at the court of his uncle Garcia of
-Navarre at Pamplona. Thence, in company with Garcia, and his mother
-Theuda, he journeyed to the court of the Caliph at Cordova, where the
-distinguished visitors were received with great show of welcome by Abdur
-Rahman at Az Zahra; and where Hasdai, the Jew, the most celebrated
-physician of the day, succeeded in completely curing Sancho of the
-distressing malady--a morbid and painful corpulency--which incapacitated
-him from the active discharge of his royal duties.
-
-The study and practice of medicine were alike disregarded by the rude
-dwellers in Leon; but the Cordovan doctor, surpassing in his success, if
-not in his skill, the most celebrated physicians of the present day,
-contrived to reduce the king’s overgrown bulk to normal proportions,
-and restored him to his former activity and vigor, both of body and
-mind. Nor was the skill of Hasdai confined to the practice of medicine.
-An accomplished diplomatist, he negotiated a treaty with his Christian
-patient, by which Sancho bound himself to give up ten frontier
-fortresses to the Caliph, on his restoration to the crown of Leon, while
-Don Garcia and Dona Theuda undertook to invade Castile in order to
-divert the attention of the common foe, the ever-ready Fernan Gonzalez.
-
-In due time Sancho, no longer the fat, but the hale, returned to Leon at
-the head of a Moslem army, placed at his disposal by his noble host at
-Cordova, drove out the usurper, Ordoño the Bad, and reigned in peace in
-his Christian dominions. The visit of this dispossessed Ordoño to the
-court of the Caliph Hakam at Cordova, in 962, is an interesting specimen
-of the international politics or policy of his age and country.
-
-As Sancho had recovered his throne, by the aid of Abdur Rahman, so
-Ordoño sought to dethrone him and make good his own pretensions by the
-aid of Hakam. The Caliph, already harassed by Fernan Gonzalez, and
-doubting the honesty of King Sancho, was not ill-pleased to have another
-pretender in hand, and Ordoño was invited to Cordova, and received by
-Hakam in the palace at Az Zahra with the utmost pomp and display. The
-Leonese prince craved in humble language the assistance of the Moslem,
-and professed himself his devoted friend, ally, and vassal; and he was
-permitted to remain at the Court of Hakam, to await the issue of events
-in the north. Some few days afterward a treaty was solemnly signed
-between the Caliph and the Pretender, and once more the glories of Az
-Zahra were displayed to the eyes of the astonished barbarian from Leon.
-
-Nor did the fame of these splendid ceremonies fail to reach Sancho in
-the northwest; and his spirit of independence was considerably cooled by
-the prospect of a Moslem army, headed by his cousin Ordoño, making its
-appearance before his ill-defended frontiers. The maneuver was
-sufficiently familiar; and the reigning monarch lost no time in
-disassociating himself from the hostile proceedings of Fernan Gonzalez;
-and sending an important embassy to Hakam at Cordova, to assure him of
-his unwavering loyalty, he hastened to announce his readiness to carry
-out to the letter all the provisions of his recent treaty with the
-Caliph. Hakam was satisfied. Ordoño languished disregarded at Cordova,
-despised alike by Moslem and Christian, but unharmed and in safety as
-the guest of the Arab. Sancho reigned in peace until 967, when he was
-poisoned by the rebel count of the day, Sanchez of Galicia. His son, who
-was known as Ramiro III., an unwise and incapable monarch, reigned at
-Leon from 967 to 982, without extending the possessions or the influence
-of the Christians in Spain; and Bermudo II., who usurped the throne, was
-no match for the fiery Almanzor, who ravaged his kingdom, took
-possession of his capital, and compelled the Christian Court to take
-refuge in the wild mountains of the Asturias, and once more to pay
-tribute to the Moslem at Cordova.
-
-Bermudo died in 999; and on the death of Almanzor, three years later,
-the Christian fortunes under the young Alfonso V., who had succeeded his
-father Bermudo, at the age of only five, began to mend. Cordova was
-given up to anarchy. The Moslem troops retired from Northern Spain.
-Leon became once more the abode of the king and his court, and though
-Alfonso gave his sister in marriage to Mohammed, an Emir or Vali of
-Toledo, he extended his Christian dominion in more than one foray
-against the declining power of the Moslem.
-
-Alfonso V., who is known in Spanish history as the Restorer of Leon,
-sought to consolidate his own power, as he certainly exalted that of his
-clergy, by the summoning of a Council, after the manner of the
-Visigothic Councils of Toledo. The Council met at the city of Leon on
-the 1st of August, 1020, in the Cathedral Church of St. Mary. The king
-and his queen Elvira presided, and all the bishops and the principal
-abbots and nobles of the kingdom took their seats in the assembly. And
-if there was no Leander, nor Isidore, nor Julian to impose his will upon
-king or council, the interests of the Church were not entirely
-overlooked. Of the fifty-eight decrees and canons of this Council, the
-first seventeen relate exclusively to matters ecclesiastical, the next
-twenty are laws for the government of the kingdom, the remaining
-thirty-one are municipal ordinances for the city of Leon.
-
-But Alfonso V. was not exempted from the usual rebellions, and
-marriages, and assassinations, and executions, which constituted the
-politics of the day. Garcia, the last Count of Castile, was
-treacherously slain in 1026; and Alfonso was himself more honorably
-killed in an attack upon a Moslem town in Lusitania in 1027.
-
-The life of Fernan Gonzalez, the Warwick of medieval Spain, is almost as
-much overlaid with romantic legends as that of Roderic or Roland. The
-lives and deeds of his ancestors, and the origin of his ever-celebrated
-County of Castile, are involved in the utmost confusion and obscurity;
-but Fernan Gonzalez himself is at least a historical personage. He
-married Sancha, daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre, and their son,
-Garcia Fernandez, succeeded him as hereditary Count of Castile.
-
-As early as the year 905, Sancho, a Christian chief of whose ancestors
-and predecessors much has been written, much surmised, and nothing is
-certainly known, was king or ruler of the little border state of
-Navarre. A prudent as well as a warlike sovereign, he fortified his
-capital city of Pamplona, and when his son, in alliance with Ordoño II.
-of Leon, was defeated by the Moslems at Val de Junquera, the Navarrese
-not only made good their retreat to that celebrated fortress, but
-succeeded in course of a short time in driving the Moslems out of their
-country. The grandson of this successful general was Sancho El Mayor--or
-the Great--the most powerful of the Christian princes in Spain
-(970-1035). Besides Navarre and Sobrarve he held the lordship of Aragon;
-in 1026, in right of his wife, Muña Elvira, he became king or count of
-Castile; while his successful interference in the affairs of Leon made
-him virtual master of all Christian Spain outside the limits of the
-quasi Frankish county of Catalonia.
-
-Sancho the Great died in 1035, when his territories were divided,
-according to his will, among his four sons; and from this time forth the
-history of Navarre, so far as it is not included in the history of
-Aragon, of Castile, and of France, is a confused and dreary record of
-family quarrels, of plots and assassinations, of uncertain alliances, of
-broken treaties. The marriage of the Princess Berengaria with Richard I.
-of England, in 1191, failed to secure for Sancho V. the influence that
-he had hoped to secure: and with Sancho VI., who died in 1234, the male
-line of the house of Sancho Iniguez or Inigo, the founder of Navarre,
-was extinct. A French prince was chosen by the Navarrese to rule over
-them. And from the death of Sancho VI., in 1234, to the death of Charles
-the Bad, in 1387--one hundred and fifty years--the history of Navarre is
-that of France.
-
-Bermudo III., who succeeded, on the death of his father, Alfonso V., in
-1027, as king of Leon, was at once attacked by his powerful neighbors,
-and the little States were distracted by family quarrels and civil war
-until the death of Bermudo in battle, in 1037, when the male line of the
-house of Leon became extinct.
-
-On the death of Bermudo III. in 1037, Ferdinand I., king of Castile, the
-second son of Sancho the Great, succeeded to the kingdom of Leon, and
-became, after over twenty years of civil war (1058), the most powerful
-monarch in all Spain. The Moslems offered but an uncertain and
-half-hearted resistance to his arms. For while the Christians were
-growing strong, the Moslem empire was already declining to its fall. And
-the decay of the Caliphate of Cordova, and the internal dissensions of
-the Arabs, enabled Ferdinand not only to recover all the territory that
-had been conquered by Almanzor, but to pursue the disheartened Moslem as
-far as Valencia, Toledo, and Coimbra. Ferdinand confirmed the Fueros of
-Alfonso V., and summoned a council at Coyanza (Valencia de Don Juan),
-over which, with his Queen Sancha, he presided in 1050. All the bishops
-and abbots, together with a certain number of lay nobles thus assembled
-_ad restaurationem nostræ Christianitatis_, proceeded to make decrees or
-canons, after the manner of the Councils of Toledo, of which the first
-seven were devoted to matters ecclesiastical, and the remainder
-connected with the civil government of the country. With territories
-thus recovered and augmented, with cities restored and fortified,
-Ferdinand determined to excel all his Christian predecessors, and to
-emulate the noble example of the Arab, by enriching his dominion, not
-with treasures of art or literature, with schools, with palaces, with
-manuscripts--but with the bones of as many martyrs as he could collect.
-
-An army was raised for this sacred purpose, and the country of the Moors
-was once more invaded and harried by the Christian arms. Ibn Obeid of
-Seville, learning the objects of the invasion, offered Ferdinand every
-facility for research in his city; and a solemn commission of bishops
-and nobles were admitted within the walls to seek the body of Justus,
-one of the martyrs of Diocletian. But in spite of all the diligence of
-the Christians, and all the goodwill of the Arabs, the sacred remains
-could nowhere be found. At length the spirit of Saint Isidore removed
-the difficulty by appearing miraculously before the Commission, and
-offering his own bones in the place of those of Justus, which were
-destined, said he, to remain untouched at Seville. The Commission was
-satisfied. And the body of the great Metropolitan, “fragrant with
-balsamic odors,” was immediately removed to the Church of St. John the
-Baptist at Leon--to the great satisfaction of both Christians and Moors,
-in 1063.
-
-It was on the occasion of the return of these blessed relics to the
-Christian capital that Ferdinand proclaimed the future division of his
-kingdom. For after all the success that had attended the Union of the
-dominions of Leon and Castile under the sole authority of Ferdinand, who
-rather perhaps for his sanctity than for his wisdom had earned the title
-of the Great, the king made the same grievous mistake that his father
-had done before him, in dividing his united territories at his death
-(1065) among his sons and daughters. To Sancho, the eldest son, he left
-the kingdom of Castile; to Alfonso, Leon and the Asturias; to Garcia,
-Galicia; to his younger daughter, Elvira, the town and district of Toro,
-and to her elder sister Urraca the famous border city of Zamora, the
-most debatable land in all Spain, and a strange heritage for a young
-lady. Thus Castile and Leon were once more separated; and the usual
-civil wars and family intrigues naturally followed. Alfonso, though not
-at first the most successful, survived all his rivals, and was at length
-proclaimed king of Leon and Castile.
-
-But the successes and glories of Alfonso VI., such as they were, are
-overshadowed by the prowess of a Castilian hero, whose exploits form one
-of the most favorite chapters in the national history of Spain--the
-Christian knight with the Moslem title--Ruy Diaz, THE CID.
-
-Two years before William of Normandy landed at Hastings, a Castilian
-knight, a youth who had already won for himself the proud title of The
-Challenger, from his reckless bravery and his success in single combat,
-is found leading the royal armies of Sancho of Castile against the
-enemy. The knight was Ruy Diaz de Bivar. The enemy was Alfonso VI. of
-Leon, the brother of Sancho, who was endeavoring to reunite the
-inheritance divided by his father, in the good old medieval fashion in
-Spain.
-
-Of noble birth and parentage, a Castilian of the Castilians, Roderic or
-Ruy Diaz was born at Bivar, near Burgos, about the year 1040. His
-position in the army of Sancho was that of Alferez, in title the
-Standard-bearer, in effect the major-general or second in command, if
-not commander-in-chief of the king’s army.
-
-For seven years Alfonso of Leon and Sancho of Castile had been at war,
-each seeking to destroy the other; and at length at Golpejara, near
-Carrion, on the eve of what promised to be a decisive battle, a solemn
-engagement was entered into by the brothers that whichever of the two
-was worsted in the encounter should resign his kingdom to the other
-without further bloodshed. The Castilians, in spite of Sancho and his
-famous Champion, were defeated at Golpejara; and Alfonso of Leon,
-foolishly trusting his brother’s word, took no heed to improve his
-victory, and his unsuspecting army was overwhelmed the next day by the
-Castilian troops under Ruy Diaz de Bivar, the author of this exceedingly
-characteristic, if not entirely authentic piece of treachery.
-
-It is scarcely surprising that the Cid was not trusted by Alfonso of
-Leon, when he, in his turn, succeeded to the crown of Castile. But for
-the moment Alfonso was not only deprived of his throne and of his
-liberty by his more successful brother, but he was compelled to
-purchase his life by a promise to enter the monastery of Sahagun.
-Disregarding this vow, and making good his escape to Toledo, the royal
-refugee was received with the usual hospitality of the Arab by El Mamun,
-the Moslem ruler of the city, who sheltered and entertained him, as he
-himself admitted, “like a son.”
-
-Sancho meanwhile had turned his arms against his brother Garcia, whom he
-dispossessed of his territories; against his sister Elvira, who met with
-a similar fate, and, lastly, against his sister Urraca, who withstood
-him boldly in her city of Zamora. And not only did this time-honored
-fortress resist the attack of Sancho and his wily major-general, but the
-king was slain outside the walls of the city by one of his sister’s
-knights. Alfonso thus not only recovered his own kingdom of Leon, but,
-swearing perpetual friendship with El Mamun of Toledo, he was elected
-king of Castile by the Commons assembled at Burgos; and the defeated
-refugee of 1071 found himself, in less than two years, the greatest
-prince in Christian Spain; Alfonso the Sixth of Leon and of Castile.
-
-Yet the legend runs that Alfonso was compelled to undergo the indignity
-of a public examination, and a triple oath before the knights and nobles
-assembled at Burgos, to the effect that he had had no share in the
-murder of King Sancho; and the oath was administered by Ruy Diaz of
-Bivar, the companion in arms of the Castilian king, sometime the
-faithless enemy of Carrion, but now the acknowledged leader of the
-Castilian nobility.
-
-Alfonso of Leon may have forgiven the treachery in the field, but he
-never forgot the insult in the Council. He restrained his indignation,
-however, and was even induced by reasons of State to grant to the bold
-Castilian lord the hand of his cousin Ximena in marriage, and to intrust
-him with the command of an expedition into Andalusia. But the royal
-favor was of brief duration; and in 1081 we find that Roderic, partly
-owing to the intrigues of Garcia Ordonez, and partly to the enduring
-enmity of the king, was banished from the Christian dominions.
-
-Of all the petty sovereignties that came into existence on the breaking
-up of the Ommeyad Caliphate of Cordova, that of Moctadir, the chief of
-the Ben-i-hud of Saragossa, was the most powerful in Northern or Central
-Spain; and at the Moslem court of Saragossa, Ruy Diaz, with his fame and
-his followers, was warmly welcomed (1081) by Moctadir as a Said or
-Cid--a lord or leader of the Arabs. He had been driven out of Castile by
-Alfonso. He found a home and honorable command at Saragossa. So long as
-he could make war upon his neighbors, all countries were alike to
-Roderic of Bivar. Nor was it long before his prowess brought honor and
-profit to Moctadir, or, rather, to his son and successor, Motamin.
-
-Ramon Berenguer III., count of Barcelona, was engaged, like other
-Christian princes of his time, in chronic warfare with his Moslem
-neighbors; and Motamin, with his Castilian Cid, marching against the
-Catalans, defeated the Christians with great slaughter at Almenara, near
-Lerida, and brought Ramon Berenguer a prisoner to Saragossa (1081),
-where the victorious Cid was loaded with presents by the grateful
-Motamin, and invested with an authority in the kingdom subordinate only
-to that of the king himself. Two years later (1083) an expedition was
-undertaken by the Moslems, under Roderic, against their Christian
-neighbors in Aragon. King Sancho Ramirez was completely defeated by the
-Castilian champion, who returned once more to Saragossa loaded with
-booty and renown. In 1084 the Cid seems to have paid a friendly visit to
-the court of Alfonso VI. But although he was apparently well received,
-he suspected treachery, and, returning to the court of the Moslem, once
-more took service under the delighted Motamin. His next campaign,
-undertaken in the following year, was not against any Christian power,
-but against the hostile Moslems of northern Valencia, and was crowned
-with the usual success. Motamin died in 1085, but the Cid remained in
-the service of his son and successor, Mostain, fighting against
-Christian and Moslem as occasion offered, partly for the King of
-Saragossa, but chiefly for the personal advantage of Ruy Diaz of Bivar.
-A stranger national hero it is hard to imagine! Nor were his subsequent
-proceedings in any degree less strange.
-
-Al Mamun, the host and protector of Alfonso VI., had died in 1075,
-leaving, his grandson, Cadir, to succeed him as sovereign of Toledo.
-Abdulaziz, the viceroy of the subject city of Valencia, took advantage
-of the weakness of the young prince to declare himself independent, and
-placing himself under the protection of the Christians, undertook to pay
-a large subsidy to Alfonso VI. in return for his recognition and
-support. The subsidy was punctually paid, and, in spite of a present of
-no less than a hundred thousand pieces of gold handed over by Moctadir
-of Saragossa to Alfonso as the price of Valencia, Abdulaziz retained his
-hold of the city until his death in 1085. On this, numerous pretenders
-to the government immediately arose, including Moctadir of Saragossa, a
-purchaser for value, and the two sons of Abdulaziz; while Alfonso took
-advantage of the confusion that ensued to persuade Cadir to surrender
-Toledo, much coveted by the Christian king, and to accept, or, more
-exactly, to retain, for himself the sovereignty of Valencia, under the
-humiliating protection of Castile. Alfonso cared nothing that Toledo was
-the inheritance of his youthful ally, the home of his old protector,
-when he himself was a hunted refugee. He cared nothing that the
-Valencians were hostile to Cadir, and that powerful neighbors were
-prepared to dispute his possession. He cared nothing that Moctadir, who
-had actually purchased the city from Alfonso himself, was on the way to
-make good his claim. A treaty was forced upon Cadir by which Toledo was
-surrendered to Alfonso VI. (1085), and the Christian king was bound to
-place and maintain the unhappy prince in possession of his own
-subordinate city of Valencia.
-
-Toledo thus became the capital of Christian Spain; and the evicted
-sovereign, escorted by a large force of Castilian troops under Alvar
-Fanez, made his sad and solemn entry into Valencia, despised at once by
-the citizens of Toledo, whom he had abandoned to the Christian
-sovereign, and by the citizens of Valencia, where his power was
-maintained by Christian lances. And costly indeed was this Christian
-maintenance. Six hundred pieces of gold is said to have been the daily
-allowance of the army of Castilian mercenaries; and the taxes that were
-necessitated by their presence only added to the unpopularity of the
-government. Many of Cadir’s Moslem subjects fled from the city; and
-their place was taken by his Christian supporters or pensioners, whose
-rapacity was, if possible, exceeded by their cruelty. But the coming of
-the Almoravides gave a new turn to the fortunes of the city. Alvar Fanez
-and his knights were recalled by Alfonso, and after the defeat of the
-Christians at Zalaca, in October, 1086, Cadir found himself threatened
-with immediate expulsion by his own citizens, supported by Mondhir of
-Lerida, the uncle of Mostain of Saragossa. In this difficulty he once
-more sought the protection of Christian lances, and applied for aid to
-the Cid, who immediately advanced on Valencia.
-
-An intriguer, at all times and places, Roderic promised his support to
-Cadir in return for admission within the walls. He entered into a formal
-treaty with Mostain that the city should be his, if all the booty were
-handed over to the Campeador; and he sent envoys to Alfonso to assure
-him that in all these forays and alliances he thought only of the
-advantage of Christendom and the honor of Castile. Mondhir, overawed by
-the appearance of the allied army from Saragossa, hastily retired from
-before Valencia, where Mostain and his Christian Said were welcomed as
-deliverers by Cadir.
-
-But although the Cid imposed a tribute upon the unhappy Valencians, he
-failed to give over the city to Mostain, and assuring Cadir of his
-constant support, as long as a monthly allowance of ten thousand golden
-dinars was punctually paid, he withdrew himself from the remonstrances
-of the disappointed Mostain--to whom he continued to protest his
-continued devotion--on the plea of a necessary visit to his Christian
-sovereign in Castile, to explain or excuse his position, and to engage
-some Castilian troops for his army. Mostain, during his absence,
-perceiving that he could not count upon so versatile and so ambitious a
-Said in the matter of the handing over of Valencia, entered into an
-alliance with his old enemy, Ramon Berenguer, of Barcelona; and the
-Catalans had actually laid siege to the city when the return of the Cid
-induced them to abandon their trenches and retire to Barcelona.
-
-If the Cid was a hero of romance, he did not wield his sword without the
-most magnificent remuneration. At this period of his career (1089-92),
-in addition to the eighty thousand golden pieces received from Ramon
-Berenguer, he is said to have drawn fifty thousand from the son of
-Mondhir, one hundred and twenty thousand from Cadir of Valencia, ten
-thousand from Albarracin, ten thousand from Alpuente, six thousand from
-Murviedro, six thousand from Segorbe, four thousand from Jerica, and
-three thousand from Almenara.
-
-With such an amount of personal tribute, the Cid cannot, says Lafuente,
-have been greatly inconvenienced by the action of Alfonso VI. in
-despoiling him of his estates. Supporting his army of seven thousand
-chosen followers on the rich booty acquired in his daily forays upon
-Eastern Spain, from Saragossa to Alicante; regardless of Christian
-rights, but the special scourge of the Moslems; no longer a Saragossan
-general, but a private adventurer, the Cid could afford to quarrel at
-once with Mostain and with Alfonso, and to defy the combined forces of
-Mondhir and Ramon Berenguer.
-
-The rivalry between the Cid and the Catalan was ever fierce in Eastern
-Spain. The opposing armies met at Tebar del Pinar in 1090, and although
-the Cid was wounded in the battle, his army was completely successful.
-Mondhir fled from the field; and Ramon Berenguer was once more a
-prisoner in the hands of Roderic. Nor was the Christian count released
-from a confinement more harsh than was generous or necessary until he
-had given good security for the payment of the enormous ransom of eighty
-thousand marks of gold.
-
-It is not easy, nor would it be fruitful, to follow the various
-movements of the Cid at this period of his career. His quarrels and his
-intrigues with Alfonso of Castile, with Cadir of Valencia, with the
-various parties at the court of Saragossa, with Ramon Berenguer at
-Barcelona, and even with the Genoese and Pisans, are neither easy nor
-interesting to follow. But his principal objective was the rich city of
-Valencia. Alfonso of Leon, ever jealous of his great and most
-independent subject, resolved to thwart him in his design; and having
-secured the co-operation of the Pisans and Genoese, who had arrived with
-a fleet of four hundred vessels to assist the Cid, the king took
-advantage of the absence of his rival on some foray to the north of
-Saragossa to advance upon Valencia, and to push forward his operations
-to the very walls of the city. Ruy Diaz riposted after his fashion.
-
-Leaving the Valencians to make good the defense of their own city, he
-carried fire and sword into Alfonso’s peaceful dominions of Najera and
-Calahorra, destroying all the towns, burning all the crops, slaughtering
-the Christian inhabitants; and razing the important city of Logrono to
-the ground. This savagery was completely successful, and met with no
-reproach. The Cid is one of those fortunate heroes to whom all things
-are permitted. His excesses are forgotten; his independence admired; his
-boldness and his success are alone remembered. Alfonso, thus rudely
-summoned to the north of the Peninsula, abruptly raised the siege of
-Valencia.
-
-Nor was the king’s action at Valencia without a favorable influence upon
-the fortunes of the Cid. Far from wresting the city from the grasp of
-Roderic, Alfonso had rather precipitated the crisis which was ultimately
-to lead to his triumphal entry as the independent ruler of the city.
-Cadir was murdered by a hostile faction within the walls; and the Cid,
-advancing with his usual prudence, spent some time in possessing himself
-of the suburbs and the approaches to the city, before the siege was
-commenced in good earnest, in July, 1093.
-
-The operations were carried on in the most ferocious fashion by the
-attacking force. Roderic burned his prisoners alive from day to day
-within the sight of the walls, or caused them to be torn in pieces by
-his dogs under the very eyes of their fellow-townsmen.
-
-The blockaded city was soon a prey to the utmost horrors of famine.
-Negotiation was fruitless. Succor came not. Neither Christian nor
-Moslem, neither Alfonso the Castilian, nor Yusuf the Almoravide, nor
-Mostain of Saragossa, appearing to defend or to relieve the city,
-Valencia capitulated on the 15th of June, 1094.
-
-The Moslem commander, Ibn Jahaf, was burned alive. The Moslem
-inhabitants were treated with scant consideration, and the Cid, as might
-have been supposed, proclaimed himself sovereign of Valencia,
-independent of either Christian Alfonso or Moorish Mostain; and at
-Valencia he lived and reigned until the day of his death, but five
-years afterward, in 1099. His rule was often threatened by the
-Almoravides; but as long as the champion lived they could effect no
-entry within the walls of his city.
-
-For full three years after his death, moreover, his widow Ximena, and
-his cousin Alvar Fanez, maintained a precarious sovereignty at Valencia.
-At length, unsupported by Alfonso of Leon, and unable to stand alone in
-the midst of the Moslems, they retired to Burgos, carrying with them the
-body of the Cid embalmed in precious spices, borne, as of old, on his
-faithful steed Babieca, to its last resting place in Castile. Valencia
-was immediately occupied by the Almoravides, and became once more a
-Moslem stronghold; nor did it finally pass into Christian hands until it
-was taken by James the First of Aragon in 1238. The Cid was buried in
-the Monastery of Cardena, near Burgos; and the body of his heroic wife,
-Dona Ximena, who died in 1104, was laid by his side in the tomb.
-
-The legend of the marriage of the Cid’s daughters with the Infantes of
-Carrion, of their desertion, and of the vengeance of the Cid upon their
-unworthy husbands, is undoubtedly an invention of the Castilian
-minstrels.
-
-The legend of the death of the Cid’s son at the battle of Consuegra is
-certainly fallacious. There is no evidence that a son was ever born to
-him at all. But he had undoubtedly two daughters, one of whom,
-Christina, married Ramiro, Infante of Navarre, and the other, Maria,
-became the countess of Ramon Berenguer III. of Barcelona. The issue of
-Ramon Berenguer III. was a daughter who died childless, but a
-granddaughter of Ramiro of Navarre married Sancho III. of Castile,
-whose son, Alfonso VIII., was the grandfather both of St. Ferdinand and
-of St. Louis. And thus in a double stream, through the royal houses of
-Spain and of France, the blood of the Cid is found to flow in the veins
-of his Majesty Alfonso XIII., the reigning king of Spain.
-
-To understand or appreciate the position that is occupied by the Cid in
-Spanish history is at the present day supremely difficult. A medieval
-condottiere in the service of the Moslem, when he was not fighting to
-fill his own coffers with perfect impartiality against Moor or
-Christian: banished as a traitor by his Castilian sovereign, and
-constantly leading the forces of the Infidel against Aragon, against
-Catalonia, and even against Castile, he has become the national hero of
-Spain. Warring against the Moslem of Valencia, whom he pitilessly
-despoiled, with the aid of the Moslem of Saragossa, whose cause he
-cynically betrayed, while he yet owned a nominal allegiance to Alfonso
-of Castile, whose territories he was pitilessly ravaging; retaining
-conquered Valencia for his personal and private advantage, in despite of
-Moslem or Christian kings, he has become the type of Christian loyalty
-and Christian chivalry in Europe. Avaricious, faithless, cruel and bold,
-a true soldier of fortune, the Cid still maintains a reputation which is
-one of the enigmas of history.
-
-The three favorites of medieval Spanish romance, says Senor Lafuente,
-Bernardo del Carpio, Fernan Gonzalez, and the Cid, have this at least in
-common, that they were all at war with their lawful sovereigns, and
-fought their battles independently of the crown. Hence their popularity
-in Spain. The Castilians of the Middle Ages were so devoted to their
-independence, so proud of their Fueros, such admirers of personal
-prowess, that they were disposed to welcome with national admiration
-those heroes who sprang from the people, who defied and were ill-treated
-by their kings.
-
-The theory is both ingenious and just, yet it by no means solves the
-difficulty. Ruy Diaz of Bivar, who was one of the proudest nobles of
-Castile, can scarcely be said to have sprung from the people, nor do we
-clearly perceive why his long service under Moslem kings, even though he
-was a rebel against his own sovereign, should have endeared him to the
-Christian Spaniards, however independent or however democratic. Yet we
-may learn at least from the character of the hero, ideal though it be,
-that the medieval Castilians were no bigots, and that they were slaves
-neither to their kings nor to their clergy.
-
-The people of Aragon no doubt held their king in a more distinctly
-constitutional subjection. No Castilian chief-justice was found to call
-the sovereign to order: no Privilege of Union legalized a popular war in
-defense of popular liberties. But Roderic took the place of the
-justiciary in legend, if not in history, when he administered the oath
-to Alfonso at Burgos; and he invested himself with the privilege of
-warring against an aggressive king, when he routed Alfonso’s forces, and
-burned his cities, to requite him for his attack upon Valencia.
-
-It is this rebellious boldness which contributed no doubt very largely
-to endear the Cid to his contemporaries. It is one of the most constant
-characteristics of his career; one of the features that is portrayed
-with equal clearness by the chroniclers and the ballad-makers of Spain.
-For the Cid is essentially a popular hero. His legendary presentment is
-a kind of poetic protest against arbitrary regal power. The Cid ballads
-are a pæan of triumphant democracy. The ideal Cid no doubt was evolved
-in the course of the twelfth century; and by the end of the fifteenth
-century, when the rule of kings and priests had become harder and
-heavier in Spain, an enslaved people looked back with an envious
-national pride to the Castilian hero who personified the freedom of
-bygone days.
-
-The Cid is the only knight-errant that has survived the polished satire
-of Cervantes. For his fame was neither literary nor aristocratic; but,
-like the early Spanish proverbs, in which it is said he took so great a
-delight, it was embedded deep in the hearts of the people.[3] And
-although the memory of his religious indifference may not have added to
-his popularity in the sixteenth century in Spain, it is a part of his
-character which must be taken into account in gauging the public opinion
-of earlier days.
-
-From the close of the eighth century to the close of the fifteenth, the
-Spanish people, Castilians and Aragonese, were, if anything, less
-bigoted than the rest of Europe. The influence of their neighbors the
-Moors, and of their Arab toleration, could not be without its effect
-upon a people naturally free, independent, and self-reliant, and the
-Cid, who was certainly troubled with no religious scruples in the course
-of his varied career, and who, according to a popular legend, affronted
-and threatened the Pope on his throne in St Peter’s, on account of some
-fancied slight,[4] could never have been the hero of a nation of bigots.
-The degenerate Visigoths from the time of Reccared the Catholic to the
-time of Roderic the Vanquished could never have produced a Cid. Yet,
-even in the dark days of Erwig and Egica, there was found a Julian, who
-boldly maintained the national independence against the pretensions of
-the Pope of Rome. For a thousand years after the landing of St.
-Paul--if, indeed, he ever landed upon the coast--the Spanish Church was,
-perhaps, the most independent in Europe. The royal submission to the
-Papal authority, first by Sancho I. of Aragon, in 1071, and afterward by
-Alfonso VI. of Leon, in 1085, in the matter of the Romish Ritual, was
-distinctly unpopular. Peter II. found no lack of recruits for the army
-that he led against the Papal troops in Languedoc, and King James I.,
-the most popular of the kings of Aragon, cut out the tongue of a
-meddlesome bishop who had presumed to interfere in his private affairs
-(1246). It was not until the Inquisition was forced upon United Spain by
-Isabella the Catholic, and the national lust for the plunder of
-strangers was aroused by the destruction of Granada, that the Spaniard
-became a destroyer of heretics. It was not until the spoliation and the
-banishment of Jews and Moriscos, and the opening of a new world of
-heathen treasure on the discovery of America, that the Castilian, who
-had always been independent himself, became intolerant of the
-independence of others. Then, indeed, he added the cruelty of the priest
-to the cruelty of the soldier, and wrapping himself in the cloak of a
-proud and uncompromising national orthodoxy, became the most ferocious
-bigot in two unhappy worlds.
-
-But in the beginning it was not so. And if the Cid could possibly have
-been annoyed by Torquemada, his knights would have hanged the Inquisitor
-upon the nearest tree. No priests’ man, in good sooth, was Roderic of
-Bivar, nor, save in that he was a brave and determined soldier, had the
-great Castilian Free Lance anything in common with the more conventional
-heroes of United Spain.
-
-If history affords no reasonable explanation of his unrivaled renown
-beyond that which has already been suggested, we find but little in the
-early poetry to assist us. The Cid ballads impress us “more by their
-number than their light.” They are neither very interesting in
-themselves, nor are they even very suggestive. Only thirty-seven ballads
-are considered by Huber to be older than the sixteenth century. “La
-plupart de ces romances,” says M. Dozy, “accusent leur origine moderne”;
-and, according to Mr. Ormsby, they do but little toward the illustration
-of the Cid, either as a picturesque hero of romance or as a
-characteristic feature of medieval history.
-
-The great French dramatist scarcely touches the true history of his
-hero. The scene of the play is laid at Seville, where no Christian king
-set his foot for a hundred and fifty years after the death of Roderic.
-The title which he accepted from his employer, Mostain of Saragossa, is
-said to have been granted by Alfonso of Leon, after the capture of two
-imaginary Moorish kings, unknown to history, in an impossible battle on
-the banks of the Guadalquivir, which was never seen by the Cid. The
-whole action of the play turns upon the moral and psychological
-difficulties arising from the purely legendary incident of the killing
-of Chimene’s father by her lover, avenging an insult offered to his own
-sire, and of the somewhat artificial indignation of the lady, until she
-is appeased by a slaughter of Moors. Corneille’s drama abounds in noble
-sentiments expressed in most admirable verse; but it does not assist us
-to understand the character of the Cid, nor the reasons of his
-popularity in his own or in any other country. But certain at least it
-is that from the earliest times the story of his life and his career
-took a strong hold upon the popular imagination in Spain, and his
-virtues and his vices, little as they may seem to us to warrant the
-popular admiration, were understood and appreciated in the age in which
-he lived, an age of force and fraud, of domestic treason and foreign
-treachery, when religion preached little but battle and murder, and
-patriotism was but a pretext for plunder and rapine. Admired thus, even
-in his lifetime, as a gallant soldier, an independent chieftain, and an
-ever successful general, fearless, dexterous, and strong, his free
-career became a favorite theme with the jongleurs and troubadours of the
-next generation; and from the Cid of history was evolved a Cid of
-legendary song.
-
-It is most difficult at the present day to know exactly where serious
-history ends and where poetry and legend begin. Yet the Cid as
-represented to us by M. Dozy, one of the most acute of modern
-investigators of historic truth, is not so very different from the Cid
-represented by Southey, or even by earlier and less critical poets, but
-that we may form a reasonable estimate, from what is common to both
-history and tradition, of what manner of man he was. The Cid of the
-twelfth century legends, indeed, though he may be more marvelous, is by
-no means more moral than the Cid of history. It was reserved for the
-superior refinement of succeeding generations, and more especially for
-the anonymous author of the poem of the thirteenth century to evolve a
-hero of a gentler and nobler mold; a creature conforming to a higher
-ideal of knightly perfection. From this time forward we have a glorified
-Cid, whose adventures are no more historically false, perhaps, than
-those of the unscrupulous and magnificent Paladin of the legends and
-romances of the twelfth century, but whose character possesses all the
-dignity and all the glory with which he could be invested by a generous
-medieval imagination. And it is this refined and idealized hero;
-idealized, yet most real; refined, yet eminently human, that has been
-worshiped by nineteen generations of Spaniards as the national hero of
-Spain.
-
-Ruy Diaz--as he lived and died--was probably no worse a man than any of
-his neighbors. Far better than many of them he was, and undoubtedly
-bolder and stronger, more capable, more adroit, and more successful.
-
-Seven of the Christian princes of Spain at this period fell in battle
-warring against their own near relations, or were murdered by their
-hands in cold blood. Garcia of Castile was slain by the sword of the
-Velas. Bermudo III. of Leon and Garcia Sanchez of Navarre died fighting
-against their brother, Ferdinand of Castile. Sancho II. of Castile was
-assassinated by order of his sister Urraca, besieged by him in her city
-of Zamora. Among the Christian kings of the century immediately before
-him, Garcia of Galicia was strangled in prison by the hands of his
-brothers, Sancho and Alfonso; Sancho Garcia of Navarre was assassinated
-by his brother Ramon, at Peñalva; Ramon Berenguer II. of Barcelona died
-by the dagger of his brother Berenguer Ramon; Sancho the Fat, in 967,
-was poisoned at a friendly repast by Gonzalo Sanchez; Ruy Velasquez of
-Castile, in 986, murdered his seven nephews, the unfortunate Infantes de
-Lara; Sancho of Castile, in 1010, poisoned his mother, who had
-endeavored to poison him. At the wedding festivities at Leon, in 1026,
-Garcia, Count of Castile, was assassinated at the church door, and the
-murderers were promptly burned alive by his friends; Garcia of Navarre,
-in 1030, as an incident in a family dispute about a horse, accused his
-mother of adultery. Such was the standard of the eleventh century in the
-north of the Peninsula.
-
-To judge the Cid, even as we now know him, according to any code of
-modern ethics, is supremely unreasonable. To be sure, even now, that we
-know him as he was, is supremely presumptuous. But that Ruy Diaz was a
-great man, and a great leader of men, a knight who would have shocked
-modern poets, and a free lance who would have laughed at modern heroes,
-we can have no manner of doubt. That he satisfied his contemporaries
-and himself; that he slew Moors and Christians as occasion required,
-with equal vigor and absolute impartiality; that he bearded the King of
-Leon in his Christian council, and that he cozened the King of Saragossa
-at the head of his Moslem army; that he rode the best horse and
-brandished the best blade in Spain; that his armies never wanted for
-valiant soldiers, nor his coffers for gold pieces; that he lived my Lord
-the Challenger, the terror of every foe, and that he died rich and
-respected in the noble city that had fallen to his knightly spear--of
-all this at least we are certain; and, if the tale is displeasing to our
-nineteenth century refinement, we must be content to believe that it
-satisfied the aspirations of medieval Spain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-MOORISH SPAIN
-
-THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS--THE RISE AND FALL OF GRANADA--FERDINAND AND
-ISABELLA--THE GREAT CAPTAIN
-
-
-Moslem rule in Spain may be conveniently summarized as
-consisting--first, in the Caliphs of Cordova; second, in the dynasty of
-the Almoravides; third, in that of the Almohades; and, finally, the
-kings of Granada.
-
-Concerning the first it may be noted that in the long reign of the last
-Abdur Rahman were the seeds of its dissolution. Brooking no rival during
-his lifetime, at his death he found no successor. Then upon the ruins of
-the great Caliphate twenty independent and hostile dynasties surged.
-Meanwhile Alfonso was eyeing them from his citadel. At the gates of
-Valencia was the Cid. For common safety the Moslem rivals looked for a
-common defender. In Africa that defender was found in Yusuf, the Berber
-chief of a tribe of religious soldiers known as the Almoravides.
-
-Invited to Spain, he crossed over, and, meeting Alfonso at Zalaca, near
-Badajoz, on the 23d of October, 1086, he routed him with great and
-historic slaughter.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Yusuf [says Burke] had come as a Moslem defender, but he remained as a
-Moslem master. And once more in Spanish history, the over-powerful ally
-turned his victorious arms against those who had welcomed him to their
-shores. Yet Yusuf was no vulgar traitor. He had sworn to the envoys of
-the Spanish Moslems that he would return to Africa, in the event of
-victory, without the annexation to his African empire of a field or a
-city to the north of the Straits. And his vow was religiously kept.
-Retiring empty-handed to Mauritania, after the great battle at Zalaca,
-he returned once more to Spain, unfettered on this new expedition by any
-vow, and set to work with his usual vigor to make himself master of the
-Peninsula. Tarifa fell in December. The next year saw the capture of
-Seville, and of all of the principal cities of Andalusia. An army sent
-by Alfonso VI., under his famous captain, Alvar Fanez, was completely
-defeated, and all Southern Spain lay at the feet of the Berber, save
-only Valencia, which remained impregnable so long as the Cid lived to
-direct the defense. In 1102, after the hero’s death, Valencia succumbed,
-and all Spain to the south of the Tagus became a province of the great
-African empire of the Almoravides.
-
-The rule of these hardy bigots was entirely unlike that of the Ommeyad
-Caliphs of the West. Moslem Spain had no longer even an independent
-existence. The sovereign resided not at Cordova, but at Morocco. The
-poets and musicians were banished from court. The beauties of Az Zahra
-were forgotten. Jews and Christians were alike persecuted. The kingdom
-was governed with an iron hand. But if the rule of the stranger was not
-generous, it was just, and for the moment it possessed the crowning
-merit that it was efficient. The laws were once more respected. The
-people once more dreamed of wealth and happiness. But it was little more
-than a dream.
-
-On the death of Yusuf in 1107 the scepter passed into the hands of his
-son Ali, a more sympathetic but a far less powerful ruler. In 1118 the
-great city of Saragossa, the last bulwark of Islam in the north of the
-Peninsula, was taken by Alfonso I. of Aragon, who carried his victorious
-arms into Southern Spain, and fulfilled a rash vow by eating a dinner of
-fresh fish on the coast of Granada.
-
-Yet it was by no Christian hand that the empire of the Almoravides was
-to be overthrown.
-
-Mohammed Ibn Abdullah, a lamplighter in the mosque at Cordova, had made
-his way to remote Bagdad to study at the feet of Abu Hamid Algazali, a
-celebrated doctor of Moslem law. The strange adventures, so
-characteristic of his age and nation, by which the lowly student became
-a religious reformer--a Mahdi--and a conqueror in Africa, and at length
-overthrew the Almoravides, both to the north and the south of the
-Straits of Gibraltar, forms a most curious chapter in the history of
-Islam; but in a brief sketch of the fortunes of medieval Spain, it must
-suffice to say that having established his religious and military power
-among the Berber tribes of Africa, Ibn Abdullah, the Mahdi, landed at
-Algeciras in 1145, and possessed himself in less than four years of
-Malaga, Seville, Granada, and Cordova. The empire of the Almoravides was
-completely destroyed; and, before the close of the year 1149, all Moslem
-Spain acknowledged the supremacy of the Almohades.
-
-These more sturdy fanatics were still African rather than Spanish
-sovereigns. Moslem Spain was administered by a Vali deputed from
-Morocco; and Cordova, shorn of much of its former splendor, was the
-occasional abode of a royal visitor from Barbary. For seventy years the
-Almohades retained their position in Spain. But their rule was not of
-glory but of decay. One high feat of arms indeed shed a dying luster on
-the name of the Berber prince who reigned for fifteen years (1184-99)
-under the auspicious title of Almanzor, and his great Moslem victory
-over Alfonso II. at Alarcon in 1195 revived for the time the drooping
-fortunes of the Almohades. But their empire was already doomed,
-decaying, disintegrated, wasting away. And at length the terrible defeat
-of the Moslem forces by the united armies of the three Christian kings
-at the Navas do Tolosa in 1212, at once the most crushing and the most
-authentic of all the Christian victories of medieval Spain, gave a final
-and deadly blow to the Moslem dominion of the Peninsula. Within a few
-years of that celebrated battle, Granada alone was subject to the rule
-of Islam.
-
-It was in the year 1228 that a descendant of the old Moorish kings of
-Saragossa rebelled against the Almohades and succeeded in making himself
-master not merely of Granada, but of Cordova, Seville, Algeciras, and
-even of Ceuta, and, obtaining a confirmation of his rights from Bagdad,
-assumed the title of Amir ul Moslemin--Commander of the Moslems--and Al
-Mutawakal--the Protected of God.
-
-But a rival was not slow to appear. Mohammed Al Ahmar, the Fair or the
-Ruddy, defeated, dethroned, and slew Al Mutawakal, and reigned in his
-stead in Andalusia. Despoiled in his turn of most of his possessions by
-St. Ferdinand of Castile, Al Ahmar was fain at length to content
-himself with the rich districts in the extreme south of the Peninsula,
-which are known to fame, wherever the Spanish or the English language is
-spoken, as the Kingdom of Granada. And thus it came to pass that the
-city on the banks of the Darro, the home of the proud and highly
-cultivated Syrians of Damascus, the flower of the early Arab invaders of
-Spain, became also the abiding place of the later Arab civilization,
-overmastered year after year, and destroyed, by the Christian armies
-ever pressing on to the southern sea. Yet, in the middle of the
-thirteenth century, the flood tide of reconquest had for the moment
-fairly spent itself. The Christians were not strong enough to conquer,
-and above all they were not numerous enough to occupy, the districts
-that were still peopled by the Moor; and for once a wise and highly
-cultivated Christian shared the supreme power in the Peninsula with a
-generous and honorable Moslem. Alfonso X. sought not to extend his
-frontiers, but to educate his people, not to slaughter his neighbors,
-but to give laws to his subjects, not to plunder frontier cities, but to
-make Castile into a kingdom, with a history, a civilization, and a
-language of her own. If the reputation of Alfonso is by no means
-commensurate with his true greatness, the statesmanship of Mohammed Al
-Ahmar, the founder of the ever famous Kingdom of Granada, is
-overshadowed by his undying fame as an architect. Yet is Al Ahmar worthy
-of remembrance as a king and the parent of kings in Spain. The loyal
-friend and ally of his Christian neighbor, the prudent administrator of
-his own dominions, he collected at his Arab court a great part of the
-wealth, the science, and the intelligence of Spain. His empire has long
-ago been broken up; the Moslem has been driven out; there is no king nor
-kingdom of Granada. But their memory lives in the great palace fortress
-whose red towers still rise over the sparkling Darro, and whose fairy
-chambers are still to be seen in what is, perhaps, the most celebrated
-of the wonder works of the master builders of the world.
-
-After his long and glorious reign of forty-two years, Mohammed the Fair
-was killed by a fall from his horse near Granada, and was succeeded by
-his son, Mohammed II., in the last days of the year 1272. Al Ahmar had
-ever remained at peace with Alfonso X., but his son, taking advantage of
-the king’s absence in quest of an empire in Germany, sought the
-assistance of Yusuf, the sovereign or emperor of Morocco, and invaded
-the Christian frontiers.
-
-Victory was for some time on the side of the Moors. The Castilians were
-defeated at Ecija in 1275, and their leader, the Viceroy Don Nunez de
-Lara, was killed in battle, as was also Don Sancho, Infante of Aragon
-and Archbishop of Toledo, after the rout of his army at Martos, near
-Jaen, on the 21st of October, 1275; and the victorious Yusuf ravaged
-Christian Spain to the very gates of Seville.
-
-In the next year, 1276, the Castilian armies were again twice defeated,
-in February at Alcoy and in the following July at Lucena. To add to
-their troubles, King James of Aragon died at Valencia in 1276. Sancho of
-Castile sought to depose his father Alfonso, at Valladolid. All was in
-confusion among the Christians; and had it not been for the defection of
-Yusuf of Morocco, the tide of fortune might have turned in favor of
-Islam. As it was, the African monarch not only abandoned his cousin of
-Granada, but he was actually persuaded to send one hundred thousand
-ducats to his Christian rival at Seville in 1280.
-
-The value of this assistance was soon felt. Tarifa was taken in 1292,
-and the progress of the Moor was checked forever in Southern Spain.
-Mohammed II. died in 1302, and was succeeded by his son, Mohammed III.,
-who was usually considered by the Moslem historians to have been the
-ablest monarch of his house. But he reigned for only seven years, and he
-was unable to defend Gibraltar from the assaults of his Christian
-rivals.
-
-From this time the court of Granada became a sort of city of refuge for
-the disaffected lords and princes of Castile, who sometimes, but rarely,
-prevailed upon their Moslem hosts to assist them in expeditions into
-Christian Spain, but who were always welcomed with true Arab hospitality
-at the Moslem capital. To record their various intrigues would be a vain
-and unpleasing task. The general course of history was hardly affected
-by passing alliances. The Christian pressed on--with ever-increasing
-territory behind him--on his road to the southern sea.
-
-In 1319, Abdul Walid or Ismail I. of Granada defeated and slew Don Pedro
-and Don Juan, Infantes of Castile, at a place near Granada, still known
-as the Sierra de los Infantes. But no important consequences followed
-the victory.
-
-In the reign of Yusuf (1333-54) was fought the great battle of the
-Salado (1340), when the Christians, under Alfonso XI., were completely
-successful; and the capitulation of Algeciras three years later deprived
-the Moslems of an important harbor and seaport. Day by day--almost hour
-by hour--the Christians encroached upon Granada, even while cultivating
-the political friendship and accepting the private hospitality of the
-Moslem. Their treacherous intervention reached its climax in 1362, when
-Peter the Cruel decoyed the King Abu Said, under his royal safe-conduct,
-to the palace at Seville, and slew him with his own hand.
-
-With Mohammed or Maulai al Aisar, or the Left-handed, the affairs of
-Granada became more intimately connected with the serious history of
-Spain. Al Hayzari, proclaimed king in 1423, and dethroned soon after by
-his cousin, another Mohammed, in 1427 sought and found refuge at the
-court of John II., by whose instrumentality he was restored to his
-throne at the Alhambra in 1429. Yet within four years a rival sovereign,
-Yusuf, had secured the support of the fickle Christian, and Muley the
-Left-handed was forced a second time to fly from his capital. Once
-again, by the sudden death of the new usurper, he returned to reign at
-Granada, and once again for the third time he was supplanted by a more
-fortunate rival, who reigned as Mohammed IX. for nearly ten years
-(1445-54). At the end of this period, however, another pretender was
-dispatched from the Christian court, and after much fighting and
-intrigue, Mohammed Ibn Ismail, a nephew of Maulai or Muley the
-Left-handed, drove out the reigning sovereign and succeeded him as
-Mohammed X.
-
-Yet were the dominions of this Christian ally unceasingly ravaged by his
-Christian neighbors. Gibraltar, Archidona, and much surrounding
-territory were taken by the forces of Henry IV. and his nobles; and a
-treaty was at length concluded in 1464, in which it was agreed that
-Mohammed of Granada should hold his kingdom under the protection of
-Castile, and should pay an annual subsidy or tribute of twelve thousand
-gold ducats. It was thus, on the death, in 1466, of this Mohammed Ismail
-of Granada, that a vexed and harassed throne was inherited by his son
-Muley Abul Hassan, ever famous in history and romance as “The old
-king”--the last independent sovereign of Granada.
-
-Meanwhile, Henry’s only daughter Joanna being regarded as the fruit of
-the queen’s adultery, he was deposed, but restored after acknowledging
-as his heiress his sister Isabella, who subsequently, through her
-marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon, joined the two most powerful of
-Spanish kingdoms into one yet more powerful State.
-
-To return now to Muley Abul Hassan.[5] For many years after his
-accession he observed with his Christian neighbors the treaties that had
-been made, nor did he take advantage of the civil war which arose by
-reason of Joanna’s pretensions to add to the difficulties already
-existing, and in the spring of 1476 sought a formal renewal of the old
-Treaty of Peace.
-
-Ferdinand, however, made his acceptance of the king’s proposal
-contingent upon the grant of an annual tribute; and he sent an envoy to
-the Moslem court to negotiate the terms of payment. But the reply of
-Abul Hassan was decisive. “Steel,” said he, “not gold, was what
-Ferdinand should have from Granada!” Disappointed of their subsidy, and
-unprepared for war, the Christian sovereigns were content to renew the
-treaty, with a mental reservation that as soon as a favorable
-opportunity should present itself they would drive every Moslem not
-only out of Granada, but out of Spain.
-
-For five years there was peace between Abul Hassan and the Catholic
-sovereigns. The commencement of hostilities was the capture of Zahara by
-the Moslems at the close of the year 1481; which was followed early in
-next year, 1482, by the conquest of the far more important Moorish
-stronghold of Alhama, not by the troops of Ferdinand and Isabella, but
-by the followers of Ponce de Leon, the celebrated Marquis of Cadiz.
-Alhama was not merely a fortress. It was a treasure-house and a
-magazine; and it was but five or six leagues from Granada. The town was
-sacked with the usual horrors. The Marquis of Cadiz, having made good
-his position within the walls, defied all the attacks of Abul Hassan,
-and at the same time sent messengers to every Christian lord in
-Andalusia to come to his assistance--to all save one, his hereditary
-enemy, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, chief of the great family of the
-Guzmans. Yet it was this generous rival, who, assembling all his
-chivalry and retainers, was the first to appear before the walls of
-Alhama, and relieve the Christians from the threatened assault of the
-Moslem. The days of civil discord had passed away in Castile; and
-against united Christendom, Islam could not long exist in Spain.
-
-Meanwhile, Ferdinand, seeing that war had finally broken out, started
-from Medina del Campo, and marched with all speed to Cordova, where he
-was joined by Isabella early in April, 1482. The Inquisition had now
-been for over a year in full blast at Seville. The fires of persecution
-had been fairly lighted. The reign of bigotry had begun, and the king
-and queen were encouraged to proceed from the plunder of the Jews or New
-Christians to the plunder of the Moslems. Ferdinand accordingly repaired
-in person to Alhama, with a large train of prelates and ecclesiastics of
-lower degree. The city was solemnly purified. Three mosques were
-consecrated by the Cardinal of Spain for Christian worship. Bells,
-crosses, plate, altar cloths were furnished without stint; and Alhama
-having been thus restored to civilization, Ferdinand descended upon the
-fruitful valley or Vega of Granada, destroyed the crops, cut down the
-fruit trees, uprooted the vines, and, without having encountered a
-single armed enemy in the course of his crusade, returned in triumph to
-Cordova. A more arduous enterprise in the following July was not
-attended with the same success, when Ferdinand attacked the important
-town of Loja, and was repulsed with great loss of Christian life. An
-expedition against Malaga, later in the year, undertaken by Alfonso de
-Cardenas, Grand Master of Santiago, and the Marquis of Cadiz, was even
-more disastrous, for a small body of Moors in the mountain defiles of
-the Axarquia fell upon the Christian marauders, and no less than four
-hundred “persons of quality” are said to have perished in the retreat,
-including thirty commanders of the great military order of Santiago. The
-Grand Master, the Marquis of Cadiz, and Don Alfonso de Aguilar escaped
-as by a miracle, and the survivors straggled into Loja and Antequera and
-Malaga, leaving Abul Hassan and his brother Al Zagal, or the Valiant,
-with all the honors of war.
-
-But the successes of the Moor in the field were more than
-counterbalanced by treason in the palace. By Zoraya, a lady of Christian
-ancestry, Muley Abul Hassan had a son, Abu Abdallah, who has earned a
-sad notoriety under the more familiar name of Boabdil. Jealous of some
-rival, or ambitious of greater power, the Sultana and her son intrigued
-against their sovereign, and having escaped from the State prison, in
-which they were at first prudently confined, raised the standard of
-revolt, and compelled Abul Hassan, who was thenceforth more usually
-spoken of as the Old King, to seek refuge on the sea-coast at Malaga.
-
-Boabdil, jealous of the success of his father and his undo at Loja and
-in the Axarquia, and anxious to confirm his power by some striking
-victory over the Christians, took the field and confronted the forces of
-the Count of Cabra, near Lucena. The battle was hotly contested, but
-victory remained with the Christians. Ali Atar, the bravest of the
-Moorish generals, was slain by the hand of Alfonso de Aguilar, and
-Boabdil himself was taken prisoner by a common soldier, Hurtado by name,
-and fell into the hands of the victorious Count of Cabra.
-
-The captivity of Boabdil, the Little King, el Rey Chico, as he was
-called by the Castilians, was the turning point in the history of the
-Moorish dominion in Spain. Released on payment of a magnificent ransom
-provided by his mother Zoraya, and bound to his Christian captors by a
-humiliating treaty, he returned to Granada, disgraced and dishonored, as
-the ally of the enemies of his country. Driven out of the capital by the
-forces of his father, who had returned to occupy the great
-palace-fortress of Alhambra, Boabdil and his mother retired to Almeria,
-the second city in the kingdom; and the whole country was distracted by
-civil war.
-
-Yet for four years the Castilians refrained from any important
-expedition against Granada. Their tactics were rather those of Scipio at
-Numantia. For Delay was all in favor of Disintegration.
-
-Yet the merciless devastation of fields and crops was carried on with
-systematic and dreadful completeness. Thirty thousand destroyers of
-peaceful homesteads, granaries, farmhouses, and mills were constantly at
-work, and ere long there was scarce a vineyard or an oliveyard, scarce
-an orchard or an orange-grove existing within reach of the Christian
-borders. Under cover of the treaty with Boabdil, this devilish enginery
-of destruction was steadily pushed forward, while the old king and his
-more vigorous brother El Zagal were prevented by domestic treason from
-making any effectual defense of their fatherland. Some of the border
-towns, moreover, fell into the hands of the Christians, and many forays
-were undertaken which produced rich booty for the marauders. Ferdinand
-in the meantime occupied himself rather with the affairs of the
-Inquisition and of foreign policy, while Isabella was personally
-superintending the enormous preparations for a final attack on Granada.
-Artillery was cast in large quantities, and artificers imported from
-France and Italy; large stores of ammunition were procured from
-Flanders. Nothing was hurried; nothing was spared; nothing was forgotten
-by Isabella. A camp hospital, the first, it is said, in the history of
-warfare, was instituted by the queen, whose energy was indefatigable,
-whose powers of organization were boundless, and whose determination was
-inflexible. To represent her as a tender and a timid princess is to
-turn her true greatness into ridicule. But her vigor, her prudence, and
-her perseverance are beyond the vulgar praise of history.
-
-Meanwhile, Granada was gradually withering away. The “pomegranate,” as
-Ferdinand had foreseen and foretold, was losing one by one the seeds of
-which the rich and lovely fruit had once been all compact. The old king,
-defeated but not disgraced, blind, infirm, and unfortunate, was
-succeeded too late by his more capable brother, El Zagal, a gallant
-warrior, a skillful commander, and a resolute ruler. But if “the valiant
-one” might hardly have held his own against the enormous resources of
-the Christians in Europe, he was powerless against the combination of
-foreign vigor and domestic treachery. The true conqueror of Granada is
-Boabdil, the rebel and the traitor, who has been euphemistically
-surnamed the Unlucky (El Zogoibi). Innocent, perchance, of the massacre
-of the brave Abencerrages, he is guilty of the blood of his country.
-
-The capture of Velez Malaga by Ferdinand, already well supplied with a
-powerful train of artillery, in April, 1487--while El Zagal was fighting
-for his life against Boabdil in Granada--was soon followed by the
-reduction, after a most heroic defense, of the far more important city
-of Malaga in August, 1487. But the heroism of the Moslem woke no
-generous echo in the hearts of either Ferdinand or Isabella. The entire
-population of the captured city, men, women, and children--some fifteen
-thousand souls--was reduced to slavery, and distributed not only over
-Spain, but over Europe.
-
-A hundred choice warriors were sent as a gift to the Pope. Fifty of the
-most beautiful girls were presented to the Queen of Naples, thirty more
-to the Queen of Portugal, others to the ladies of her court, and the
-residue of both sexes were portioned off among the nobles, the knights,
-and the common soldiers of the army, according to their rank and
-influence.
-
-For the Jews and renegades a more dreadful doom was reserved; and the
-flames in which they perished were, in the words of a contemporary
-ecclesiastic, “the illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of
-Ferdinand and Isabella.” The town was repeopled by Christian immigrants,
-to whom the lands and houses of the Moslem owners were granted with
-royal liberality by the victors. The fall of Malaga, the second seaport
-and the third city of the kingdom of Granada, was a grievous loss to the
-Moors; and the Christian blockade was drawn closer both by land and by
-sea. Yet an invasion of the eastern provinces, undertaken by Ferdinand
-himself in 1488, was repulsed by El Zagal; and the Christian army was
-disbanded as usual at the close of the year, without having extended the
-Christian dominions.
-
-But in the spring of 1489 greater efforts were made. The Castilians sat
-down before the town of Baza, not far from Jaen, and after a siege which
-lasted until the following December, the city surrendered, not, as in
-the case of Malaga, without conditions, but upon honorable terms of
-capitulation, which the assailants, who had only been prevented by the
-arrival of Isabella from raising the siege, were heartily glad to
-accept. The fall of Baza was of more than passing importance, for it was
-followed by the capitulation of Almeria, the second city in the kingdom,
-and by the submission of El Zagal, who renounced as hopeless the double
-task of fighting against his nephew at the Alhambra, and resisting the
-Christian sovereigns who had already overrun his borders. The fallen
-monarch passed over to Africa, where he died in indigence and misery,
-the last of the great Moslem rulers of Spain.
-
-In the spring of 1490, Ferdinand, already master of the greater part of
-the Moorish kingdom, sent a formal summons to his bondman, Boabdil, to
-surrender to him the city of Granada; and that wretched and most foolish
-traitor, who had refrained from action when action might have saved his
-country, now defied the victorious Christians, when his defiance could
-only lead to further suffering and greater disaster.
-
-Throughout the summer of 1490, Ferdinand, in person, devoted himself to
-the odious task of the devastation of the entire Vega of Granada, and
-the depopulation of the town of Guadix. But in the spring of the next
-year, Isabella, who was ever the life and soul of the war, took up her
-position within six miles of the city, and pitched her camp at Ojos de
-Huescar at the very gate of Granada.
-
-And here was found assembled, not only all the best blood of Castile,
-but volunteers and mercenary troops from various countries in Europe.
-France, England, Italy, and even Germany, each provided their
-contingent; and a body of Swiss soldiers of fortune showed the gallant
-cavaliers of the Christian army the power and the value of a well
-disciplined infantry. Among the foreigners who had come over to Spain in
-1486 was an English lord, the Earl of Rivers, known by the Spaniards as
-El Conde de Escalas, from his family name of Scales, whose magnificence
-attracted the admiration of all, even at the magnificent court of
-Isabella.
-
-But the destruction of Granada was not brought about by these gilded
-strangers, nor even by the brilliant knights and nobles of Spain. It was
-not due to skillful engineers nor to irresistible commanders. The gates
-were opened by no victory. The walls were scaled by no assault. The
-Christian success was due to the patient determination of Isabella, to
-the decay and disintegration of the Moorish Commonwealth, and, to some
-extent, to the skillful negotiation and diplomatic astuteness of a young
-soldier whose early influence upon the fortunes of Spain has been
-overshadowed by the greatness of his later achievements.
-
-For among all the splendid knights and nobles who assembled in the camp
-of Isabella, the chroniclers wellnigh overlooked a gay cavalier of
-modest fortune, the younger brother of Alfonso de Aguilar, distinguished
-rather as a fop than a warrior--Gonsalvo Hernandez of Cordova, whose
-fame was destined to eclipse that of all his companions in arms, and who
-has earned an undying reputation in the history of three countries as
-“The Great Captain.”
-
-The life of Gonsalvo de Cordova is interesting as being the history of a
-brave soldier and an accomplished general, who flourished at a very
-important period of the history of Europe. But it is further and much
-more interesting as being the history of a man who united in himself
-many of the characteristics of ancient and of modern times. His bravery
-was the bravery of an old Castilian knight, and although he had many
-splendid rivals, he was pronounced by common consent to be their
-superior. Yet his individual courage was the least remarkable of his
-qualities. He was a general such as the Western world had not known for
-a thousand years, and he was the first diplomatist of modern Europe. In
-personal valor, in knightly courtesy, in brave display, he was of his
-own time. In astute generalship, and in still more astute diplomacy, he
-may be said to have inaugurated a new era; and although greater
-commanders have existed after him, as well as before him, he will always
-be known as “The Great Captain.”
-
-The conquest of Granada marks an epoch, not only in the history of
-Spain, but in the history of Europe; and Gonsalvo was the hero of
-Granada. The expedition of Charles VIII. into Italy is a subject of
-almost romantic interest, very nearly preferred by Gibbon to his own
-immortal theme; and Gonsalvo in Italy was the admired of all French and
-Italian admirers. The succeeding expedition of Louis XII. was scarcely
-less interesting, and the part played by Gonsalvo was even more
-remarkable. At his birth artillery was almost unknown. At his death it
-had become the most formidable arm of offense; it had revolutionized the
-rules and manner of warfare; and it was employed by The Great Captain in
-both his Italian campaigns with marked skill and success.
-
-Gonsalvo Hernandez was born at Montilla, near Cordova, in 1453, of the
-noble and ancient family of the Aguilars. After a boyhood and youth
-devoted, not only to every manly sport and pursuit, and to the practice
-of arms, but to the study of letters, and more especially of the Arabic
-language, he made his first appearance in serious warfare on the field
-of Olmedo, fighting under the banner of the Marquis of Villena. On the
-death of Prince Alfonso, Gonsalvo returned to Cordova. His father had
-already died; and according to the Spanish law of primogeniture the
-whole of the rich estates of the family of Aguilar passed, on the death
-of Don Pedro, to his eldest son Alfonso, while nothing but a little
-personal property, a great name, a fine person, and “the hope of what he
-might gain by his good fortune or his valor” was inherited by Alfonso’s
-younger brother.
-
-Cordova was obviously too small a field for Gonsalvo de Aguilar; and in
-the course of the eventful year 1474, having just arrived at man’s
-estate, he proceeded to Segovia, and distinguished himself among the
-young nobles who crowded to the Court of Isabella, by his prowess at
-tournaments and all warlike games and exercises; and he soon became
-celebrated for his personal beauty as well as for his valor,
-distinguished for his fascinating manners, and, above all, by an
-eloquence rarely found in a young soldier of two-and-twenty. He was
-generally known as “the Prince of the Youth”; and he supported the
-character by an almost royal liberality and ostentatious expenditure
-entirely incompatible with his modest fortune.
-
-In the war of succession between Isabella and her niece, Gonsalvo served
-under Alfonso de Cardenas, Grand Master of Santiago, in command of a
-troop of one hundred and twenty horsemen; and he particularly
-distinguished himself at the battle of Albuera.
-
-And now, in the camp before Granada, he was well pleased once more to
-sun himself in the smiles of his queen and patroness, whose presence in
-the camp inspired every soldier with enthusiasm. Isabella appeared on
-the field superbly mounted and dressed in complete armor, and
-continually visited the different quarters, and held reviews of the
-troops. On one occasion she expressed a desire to have a nearer view of
-the city, and a picked body of men, among whom was Gonsalvo de Cordova,
-commanded by the Marquis Duke of Cadiz, escorted her to the little
-village of Zubia, within a short distance of Granada. The citizens,
-indignant at the near approach of so small a force, sallied out and
-attacked them. The Christians, however, stood their ground so bravely,
-and performed such prodigies of valor under the very eyes of Isabella
-herself, that no less than two thousand Moslems are said to have fallen
-in that memorable affray.
-
-It happened one night, about the middle of July, that the drapery of the
-tent or pavilion in which Isabella was lodged took fire, and the
-conflagration was not extinguished until several of the neighboring
-tents had been consumed. The queen and her attendants escaped unhurt,
-but a general consternation prevailed throughout the camp, until it was
-discovered that no more serious loss had been experienced than that of
-the queen’s wardrobe.
-
-Gonsalvo, however, who on more than one occasion showed himself at least
-as practical a courtier as Sir Walter Raleigh, immediately sent an
-express to Illora, and obtained such a supply of fine clothes from his
-wife, Doña Maria Manrique, that the queen herself was amazed, as much
-at their magnificence as at the rapidity with which they had been
-obtained.
-
-But this incident led to even more important results than the amiable
-pillage of Doña Maria’s wardrobe; for in order to guard against a
-similar disaster, as well as to provide comfortable winter quarters for
-the troops, Isabella determined to construct a sufficient number of
-houses of solid masonry to provide quarters for the besieging army, a
-design which was carried out in less than three months. This martial and
-Christian town, which received the appropriate name of Santa Fe, may be
-still seen by the traveler in the Vega of Granada, and is pointed out by
-good Catholics as the only town in Andalusia that has never been
-contaminated by the Moslem.
-
-But in spite of the attractions of all these feats of arms and
-exhibitions of magnificence, and of all the personal display and rash
-adventure which savors so much more of medieval chivalry than of modern
-warfare, Gonsalvo was more seriously engaged in the schemes and
-negotiations which contributed almost as much as the prowess of the
-Christian arms to the fall of Granada. He had spies everywhere. He knew
-what was going on in Granada better than Boabdil. He knew what was going
-on in the camp better than Ferdinand. His familiarity with Arabic
-enabled him to maintain secret communications with recreant Moors,
-without the dangerous intervention of an interpreter. He kept up
-constant communications with Illora, and having obtained the allegiance
-or friendship of the Moorish chief, Ali Atar, he gained possession of
-the neighboring fortress of Mondejar. He sent presents, in truly
-Oriental style, to many of the Moorish leaders in Granada who favored
-the party of Boabdil, and he was at length chosen by Isabella as the
-most proper person to conduct the negotiations that led to the treaty of
-capitulation, which was signed on the 25th of November, 1491.
-
-The nature and the effect of this Convention are well known. The
-triumphal entry of the Christians into the old Moslem capital; “the last
-sigh of the Moor,” and the setting up of the Cross in the palace-citadel
-of Alhambra, not only form one of the most glowing pages in the romance
-of history, but they mark an epoch in the annals of the world.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE INQUISITION
-
-TORQUEMADA AND ISABELLA--THE NEW TRIBUNAL--THE PENALTY OF UNSOUND
-OPINIONS--THREE CENTURIES OF SHAME
-
-
-The history of Spain assumed a new phase when, at the fall of Granada,
-the attention of potentates and people ceased to be absorbed by the
-excitement of a great religious war. Then the past and the romance of it
-ended and the history of modern Spain began.
-
-Before proceeding with the latter, a name and a tribunal detain
-attention. The one is Torquemada. The other is the Inquisition. Burke
-has described them both, as follows:
-
- * * * * *
-
-The Inquisition, established in Italy by Honorius III. in 1231, and in
-France by St. Louis in 1233, was formally introduced into Spain by
-Gregory IX. in 1235, by a Rescript of April 30th, addressed to Mongriu,
-Archbishop-Administrator of Tarragona, confirming and explaining
-previous Briefs and Bulls upon the subject of the repression of heresy;
-and prescribing the issue of certain Instructions which had been
-prepared at the desire of his holiness by a Spanish saint, the Dominican
-Raymond of Penafort. From this time forward, Bulls on the subject of
-the Inquisition into heresy were frequently issued; and the followers of
-Dominic were ever the trusted agents of the Holy See.
-
-The first suggestion of the serious introduction of the Tribunal of the
-Holy Office into Castile, at the end of the fifteenth century, is said
-to have come from Sicily. An Italian friar bearing the suggestive name
-of Dei Barberi, Inquisitor-general at Messina, paid a visit to his
-sovereign Ferdinand at Seville in 1477, in order to procure the
-confirmation of a privilege accorded to the Sicilian Dominicans by the
-Emperor Frederic II., in 1233, by virtue of which the Inquisitors
-entered into possession of one-third of the goods of the heretic whom
-they condemned. This dangerous charter was confirmed in due course by
-Ferdinand on the 2d of September, 1477, and by Isabella on the 18th of
-October; and very little argument was required on the part of the
-gratified envoy to convince his sovereign of the various temporal and
-spiritual advantages that would follow the introduction of the Tribunal,
-that had so long existed in an undeveloped form in Sicily and in Aragon,
-into the dominions of his pious consort, Isabella of Castile.
-
-In the middle of the year 1480 there was as yet no court of the Holy
-Inquisition established in Spain. At length, pressed by the Papal
-Nuncio, by the Dominicans, by her confessor, most of all by her husband,
-Isabella gave her consent; and at length, in August, 1483, the
-Inquisition was established as a permanent tribunal. Tomas de Torquemada
-was appointed Inquisitor-general of both Castile and Aragon. Subordinate
-tribunals were constituted; new and more stringent regulations were
-made; the victims smoked from day to day on the great stone altar of
-the Quemadero.
-
-The life of Tomas de Torquemada is the history of contemporary Spain.
-Born of a noble family, already distinguished in the Church by the
-reputation of the cardinal his uncle, Tomas early assumed the habit of a
-Dominican, and was in course of time appointed prior of an important
-monastery at Segovia, and confessor to the young Princess Isabella. His
-influence upon that royal lady was naturally great; his piety pleased
-her; his austerity affected her; and his powerful will directed, if it
-could not subdue, a will as powerful as his own. Brought up far away
-from a court whose frivolities had no charm for her, and where, under
-any circumstances, she would have been considered as a rival if not a
-pretender, the counsels of her confessor, both sacred and secular, were
-the most authoritative that she could expect to obtain. It has been
-constantly asserted that the friar obtained from the princess a promise
-that, in the event of her elevation to the throne of Castile, she would
-devote herself to the destruction of heretics and the increase of the
-power of the Church. Such a promise would have been but one of many
-which such a confessor would have obtained from such a penitent, and
-would have been but the natural result of his teaching. Nor is it
-surprising that in the intrigues that preceded the death of Henry IV.,
-and the War of Succession that immediately followed it, the whole
-influence of the priesthood should have been cast on the side of
-Isabella and against her niece Joanna. For ten years, says the
-biographer of his Order, the skillful hand of Torquemada cultivated the
-intellect of Isabella; and in due course the propitious marriage with
-Ferdinand of Aragon, far from removing his pupil from his sacerdotal
-influence, brought him a new and an equally illustrious penitent.
-Torquemada became the confessor of the king as well as of the queen.
-
-If the establishment of the Inquisition was the fulfillment of
-Isabella’s vow, and the realization of the aspirations of her tutor, his
-appointment as Inquisitor-general, although it necessitated the choice
-of another confessor, did not by any means withdraw him from his old
-sphere of influence. He ceased not to preach the destruction of the
-Moslem, even as he was employed about the destruction of the Jew; and if
-Isabella was the active patroness of the war in Granada, there was a
-darker spirit behind the throne, ever preaching the sacred duty of the
-slaughter of the infidel and the heretic of every race and nation.
-
-Torquemada was at once a politician and an enthusiast; rigid, austere,
-uncompromising; unbounded in his ambition, yet content to sacrifice
-himself to the cause that made him what he was. His moral superiority to
-the Innocents and Alexanders at Rome, his intellectual superiority to
-the Carrillos and the fighting bishops of Spain, gave him that enormous
-influence over both queen and king which his consuming bigotry and his
-relentless tenacity of purpose induced him to use with such dreadful
-effect. Aggressive even in his profession of humility, Torquemada was
-insolent, not only to his unhappy victims, but to his colleagues, to his
-sovereigns, to his Holy Father at Rome. He was, perhaps, the only man in
-Europe who was more masterful than Isabella, more bloodthirsty than
-Alexander; and he was able to impose his own will on both queen and
-pope. Rejecting in his proud humility every offer of the miter, he
-asserted and maintained his ecclesiastical supremacy even over the
-Primate of Spain. Attended by a body-guard of noble youths who were glad
-to secure at once the favor of the queen and immunity from
-ecclesiastical censure by assuming the habit of the Familiars of the
-Holy Office, the great destroyer lived in daily dread of the hand of the
-assassin.
-
-Fifty horsemen and two hundred foot-guards always attended him. Nor was
-it deemed inconsistent with the purity of his own religious faith that
-he should carry about with him a talisman, in the shape of the horn of
-some strange animal, invested with the mysterious power of preventing
-the action of poison.
-
-On the death of Torquemada in September, 1498, Don Diego Deza was
-promoted to the office of Inquisitor-general of Spain. Yet the activity
-of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal was rather increased than diminished by
-the change of masters, and an attempt was made soon afterward to extend
-its operations to Naples. But Gonsalvo de Cordova, who was then acting
-as viceroy, took upon himself to disregard not only the demands of the
-Inquisitors, but the orders of Ferdinand (June 30, 1504), and to
-postpone the introduction of the new tribunal into the country that he
-so wisely and so liberally governed. After the recall of his great
-representative, some six years later, Ferdinand himself made another
-attempt to establish the hated Tribunal in Italy in 1510. But even
-Ferdinand did not prevail; and Naples retained the happy immunity which
-it owed to the Great Captain.
-
-If no error is more gross than to suppose that the establishment of the
-Inquisition was due to popular feeling in Spain, it is almost equally
-false to assert that it was the work of the contemporary popes. Rome was
-bad enough at the end of the fifteenth century; but her vast load of
-wickedness need not be increased by the burden of sins that are not her
-own. The everlasting shame of the Spanish Inquisition is that of the
-Catholic kings. It is not difficult to understand why the poor and
-rapacious Ferdinand of Aragon should welcome the establishment of an
-instrument of extortion which placed at his disposal the accumulated
-savings of the richest citizens of Castile. It is yet easier to
-comprehend that Isabella, who was not of a temper to brook resistance to
-authority in Church or State, should have consented to what her husband
-so earnestly desired. The queen, moreover, was at least sincerely
-religious, after the fashion of the day; and was constrained to follow
-the dictates of her confessor in matters judged by him to be within his
-spiritual jurisdiction, even while she was, as a civil ruler,
-withstanding the Pope himself on matters of temporal sovereignty.
-
-It is the height of folly to brand Isabella as a hypocrite, because we
-are unable to follow the workings of a medieval mind, or to appreciate
-the curious religious temper--by no means confined to the men and women
-of the fifteenth century--that can permit or compel the same person to
-be devoted to Popery and to be at war with the Pope, and find in the
-punctilious observance of ceremonial duty excuse or encouragement for
-the gratification of any vice and the commission of any crime. But that
-the nobility and people of Castile should have permitted the crown to
-impose upon them a foreign and an ecclesiastical despotism, is at first
-sight much harder to understand. No one reason, but an unhappy
-combination of causes, may perhaps be found to explain it.
-
-The influence of the queen was great. Respected as well as feared by the
-nobles, she was long admired and beloved by the mass of the people.[6]
-The great success of her administration, which was apparent even by the
-end of 1480; her repression of the nobility; her studied respect for the
-Cortes; all these things predisposed the Castilians, who had so long
-suffered under weak and unworthy sovereigns, to trust themselves not
-only to the justice but to the wisdom of the queen. The influence of the
-clergy, if not so great as it was in France or Italy, was no doubt
-considerable, and, as a rule, though not always, it was cast on the side
-of the Inquisition. Last and most unhappy reason of all, the nobility
-and the people were divided; and, if not actually hostile, were at least
-ever at variance in Castile.
-
-The first efforts of the new tribunal, too, were directed either against
-the converted Jews, of whose prosperity the Christians were already
-jealous, and for whose interested tergiversations no one could feel any
-respect; or against the more or less converted Moslems, toward whom
-their neighbors still maintained a certain hereditary antipathy. The New
-Christians alone were to be haled before the new tribunal. The Old
-Christians might trust in the queen, if not in their own irreproachable
-lineage, to protect them from hurt or harm.
-
-The number of subordinate or subsidiary tribunals of the Holy Office was
-at first only four; established at Seville, Cordova, Jaen, and Ciudad
-Real. The number was gradually increased, during the reign of the
-Catholic kings, to thirteen; and over all these Ferdinand erected, in
-1483, a court of supervision under the name of the Council of the
-Supreme, consisting of the Grand Inquisitor as President, and three
-other subordinate ecclesiastics, well disposed to the crown, and ready
-to guard the royal interests in confiscated property.
-
-One of the first duties of this tremendous Council was the preparation
-of a code of rules or Instructions, based upon the Inquisitor’s Manual
-of Eymeric, which had been promulgated in Aragon in the fourteenth
-century. The new work was promptly and thoroughly done; and twenty-eight
-comprehensive sections left but little to be provided for in the future.
-
-The prosecution of unorthodox Spanish bishops by Torquemada on the
-ground of the supposed backslidings of their respective fathers is
-sufficiently characteristic of the methods of the Inquisition to be
-worthy of a passing notice. Davila, bishop of Segovia, and Aranda,
-bishop of Calahorra, were the sons of Jews who had been converted and
-baptized by St. Vincent Ferrer. No suspicion existed as to the orthodoxy
-of the prelates, both of whom were men distinguished for their learning
-and their piety. But it was suggested that their fathers had relapsed
-into Judaism before they died. They had each, indeed, left considerable
-fortunes behind them: and it was sought to exhume and burn their mortal
-remains, and to declare the property--long in the enjoyment of their
-heirs and successors--forfeited to the crown; and, in spite of a brief
-of Innocent VIII., of the 25th of September, 1487, the attempt was made
-by the Spanish Inquisitors. Both prelates sought refuge and protection
-by personal recourse to Rome (1490). Bishop Davila, in spite of the
-urgent remonstrances of Isabella herself, ultimately secured the
-protection of Alexander VI. and was invested with additional dignities
-and honors. Bishop Aranda was less fortunate. He was stripped of his
-office and possessions, and died a prisoner in the castle of St. Angelo
-in 1497.
-
-It was not only living or dying heretics who paid the penalty of their
-unsound opinions. Men long dead, if they were represented by rich
-descendants, were cited before the Tribunal, judged, condemned, and the
-lands and goods that had descended to their heirs passed into the
-coffers of the Catholic kings. The scandal was so great that Isabella
-actually wrote to the Bishop of Segovia to defend herself against an
-accusation that no one had ever presumed to formulate. “I have,” said
-the queen, “caused great calamities, I have depopulated towns and
-provinces and kingdoms, for the love of Christ and of His Holy Mother,
-but I have never touched a maravedi of confiscated property; and I have
-employed the money in educating and dowering the children of the
-condemned.”
-
-This strange apology, which seems to have to some extent imposed upon
-Prescott, is shown, by more recent examination of the State papers to be
-a most deliberate and daring falsehood, and would go far to justify the
-suggestion of Bergenroth that if Ferdinand never scrupled to tell direct
-untruths and make false promises whenever he thought it expedient, Queen
-Isabella excelled her husband in “disregard of veracity.”
-
-If the Holy Office had existed in Aragon in an undeveloped state from
-the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, and if it was actually
-introduced into Castile at the suggestion of an Inquisitor of the
-Aragonese island of Sicily, the old independence of the inhabitants once
-more asserted itself when the time arrived for the introduction of the
-brand-new Castilian Tribunal into the old kingdom that is watered by the
-Ebro. Saragossa, indeed, may be nearer to Rome than Toledo; but the
-Catalan has ever been less submissive than his brother or cousin in
-Castile; less obedient to authority; more impatient of royal and
-ecclesiastical oppression. Yet Aragon, which had defied Innocent at
-Muret, and vanquished Martin at Gerona, was no match for the inquisitors
-of Ferdinand the Catholic.
-
-The Inquisition, as we have seen, had once before been established in
-Aragon; but in one most important particular the new institution
-differed from the old. In former days, even in the rare cases when the
-heretic paid the penalty of his heterodoxy with his life, his property
-passed to his heirs. The ecclesiastical tribunal of Ferdinand was not
-only more efficient in the matter of burning or otherwise disposing of
-accused persons; but the property of all doubtful Catholics, even of
-those who were graciously permitted to live after their trial, was
-absolutely forfeit to the crown. And the number of rich men, not only
-converted Jews but prosperous Christians, whose orthodoxy failed to come
-up to the new standard, was even in those days considered remarkable.
-
-Ferdinand at all times hated popular assemblies. He spent the greater
-part of his time in Castile; and he saw as little as possible of the
-people of Aragon. But in April, 1484, he summoned a Cortes at Saragossa,
-and decreed by royal ordinance the establishment of the new tribunal.
-The old constitutional spirit of the Aragonese seems to have evaporated;
-and a degenerate justiciary was found to swear to support the
-jurisdiction of the Inquisitors. Yet envoys and delegates of the Commons
-of Aragon were dispatched to Castile, whither Ferdinand had promptly
-retired, and also to Rome, to remonstrate against the new Institution,
-and more especially against the new provisions for the forfeiture of the
-property of the convicted. If these provisions, contrary to the laws of
-Aragon, were repealed or suspended, the deputies “were persuaded,” and
-there was a grim humor in the suggestion, “that the Tribunal itself
-would soon cease to exist.”
-
-But the repression of heresy was far too profitable an undertaking to be
-lightly abandoned; nor was Ferdinand of Aragon the man to abandon it;
-and the envoys returned from an unsuccessful mission to Valladolid to
-find a Quemadero already blazing at Saragossa.
-
-Yet the Aragonese were not at once reduced to subjection. A popular
-conspiracy led to the assassination of the Inquisitor-general, Pedro de
-Arbues, in spite of his steel cap and coat of mail, as he stood one day
-at matins in the Cathedral of Saragossa (15th September, 1457); but this
-daring crime served only to enrage Ferdinand and to strengthen the power
-of the Inquisition. A most rigorous and indefatigable inquiry, which was
-extended from Saragossa into every part of Aragon, was at once
-undertaken; and an immense number of victims, chosen not only from among
-the people, but from almost every noble family in Aragon, if it did not
-appease the vengeance of the Inquisitors, gratified at least the avarice
-of Ferdinand. Among the accused, indeed, was Don Jayme of Navarre, a
-nephew of the King of Aragon--a son of Eleanor, queen of Navarre, and
-her husband, Gaston de Foix--who was actually arrested and imprisoned by
-the Holy Office; and discharged only after having done public penance,
-as convicted of having in some way sympathized with the assassination of
-Arbues. But it may be noted that the young prince was anything but a
-favorite with his uncle, to whom this bit of ecclesiastical discipline
-was no doubt very gratifying.
-
-But it was not only at Saragossa that opposition was offered to the
-establishment of the new Tribunal. In every part of Aragon and of
-Valencia; at Lerida, at Teruel, at Barcelona, the people rose against
-this new exhibition of royal and priestly tyranny. And it was not for
-fully two years, and after the adoption of the most savage measures of
-repression both royal and ecclesiastical, that the Inquisition was
-finally accepted in the kingdom of Aragon, and that Torquemada,
-fortified by no less than two special Bulls, made his triumphal entry as
-Inquisitor-general into Barcelona on the 27th of October, 1488.
-
-Among all the tens of thousands of innocent persons who were tortured
-and done to death by the Inquisition in Spain, it is instructive to turn
-to the record of one man at least who broke through the meshes of the
-ecclesiastical net that was spread abroad in the country; for the mode
-of his escape is sufficiently instructive. Ready money at command, but
-not exposed to seizure, was the sole shield and safeguard against the
-assaults of Church and State. Don Alfonso de la Caballeria was a Jew by
-race, and a man who was actually concerned in the murder of the
-Inquisitor Arbues; but his great wealth enabled him to purchase not only
-one but two Briefs from Rome, and to secure the further favor of
-Ferdinand. He was accused and prosecuted in vain by the Holy Office of
-Aragon. He not only escaped with his life, but he rose to a high
-position in the State, and eventually mingled his Jewish and heretic
-blood with that of royalty itself.
-
-Various attempts were made by the Commons of Aragon to abate the powers
-of the Inquisition; and at the Cortes of Monzon, in 1510, so vigorous a
-remonstrance was addressed to Ferdinand that he was unable to do more
-than avoid a decision by a postponement on the ground of desiring fuller
-information; and two years later, at the same place, he was compelled to
-sanction a declaration or ordinance, by which the authority assumed by
-the Holy Office, in defiance of the Constitution of Aragon, was
-specifically declared to be illegal; and the king swore to abolish the
-privileges and jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Within a few months,
-however, he caused himself to be absolved from this oath by a Papal
-Brief; and the Inquisition remained unreformed and triumphant. But the
-Aragonese had not yet entirely lost their independence, and a popular
-rising compelled the king not only to renounce the Brief, so lately
-received, but to solicit from the Pope a Bull (May 12, 1515),
-exonerating him from so doing, and calling upon all men, lay and
-ecclesiastical, to maintain the authority of the Cortes. Aragon was
-satisfied. And the people enjoyed for a season the blessings of
-comparative immunity from persecution.
-
-To recall the manifold horrors of the actual working of the Inquisition
-in Spain would be a painful and an odious task. To record them in any
-detail is surely superfluous; even though they are entirely denied by
-such eminent modern writers as Hefele, in Germany, or Menendez Pelayo,
-in Spain. The hidden enemy, the secret denunciation, the sudden arrest,
-the unknown dungeon, the prolonged interrogatory, the hideous torture,
-the pitiless judge, the certain sentence, the cruel execution, the
-public display of sacerdotal vengeance, the plunder of the survivors,
-innocent even of ecclesiastical offense--all these things are known to
-every reader of every history. All other considerations apart, it is an
-abuse of language to speak of the proceedings before the Inquisition as
-a trial, for the tribunal was nothing but a Board of Conviction. One
-acquittal in two thousand accusations was, according to Llorente, who
-had access to all the records of the Holy Office in Spain, about the
-proportion that was observed in their judicial findings.
-
-Statistics, as a rule, are not convincing, and figures are rarely
-impressive; yet it may be added that, according to Llorente’s cautious
-estimate, over ten thousand persons were burned alive during the
-eighteen years of Torquemada’s supremacy alone; that over six thousand
-more were burned in effigy either in their absence or after their death,
-and their property acquired by the Holy Office; while the number of
-those whose goods were confiscated, after undergoing less rigorous
-punishments, is variously computed at somewhat more or somewhat less
-than one hundred thousand. But it is obvious that even these terrible
-figures give but a very feeble idea of the vast sum of human suffering
-that followed the steps of this dreadful institution. For they tell no
-tale of the thousands who died, and the tens of thousands who suffered,
-in the torture chamber. They hardly suggest the anguish of the widow and
-the orphan of the principal victims, who were left, bereaved and
-plundered, to struggle with a hard and unsympathetic world, desolate,
-poor, and disgraced.
-
-Nor does the most exaggerated presentment of human suffering tell of the
-disastrous effects of the entire system upon religion, upon morals, upon
-civil society at large. The terrorism, the espionage, the daily and
-hourly dread of denunciation, in which every honest man and woman must
-have lived, the boundless opportunities for extortion and for the
-gratification of private vengeance and worldly hatred, must have
-poisoned the whole social life of Spain. The work of the Inquisition,
-while it tended, no doubt, to make men orthodox, tended also to make
-them false, and suspicious, and cruel. Before the middle of the
-sixteenth century, the Holy Office had profoundly affected the national
-character; and the Spaniard, who had been celebrated in Europe during
-countless centuries for every manly virtue, became, in the new world
-that had been given to him, no less notorious for a cruelty beyond the
-imagination of a Roman emperor, and a rapacity beyond the dreams of a
-republican proconsul.
-
-Torquemada and Ferdinand may have burned their thousands and plundered
-their ten thousands in Spain. Their disciples put to death millions of
-the gentlest races of the earth, and ravaged without scruple or pity the
-fairest and most fertile regions of the new Continent which had been
-given to them to possess.
-
-As long as the Inquisition confined its operations to the Jews and the
-Moors, the Old Christians were injured and depraved by the development
-of those tendencies to cruelty and rapacity that lie dormant in the
-heart of every man. But this was not the end. For when Spain at length
-sheltered no more aliens to be persecuted and plundered in the name of
-religion, and murder and extortion were forced to seek their easy prey
-in the new world beyond the Atlantic Ocean, the Holy Office turned its
-attention to domestic heresy; and the character of the Spaniard in
-Europe became still further demoralized and perverted. Every man was
-suspected. Every man became suspicious. The lightest word might lead to
-the heaviest accusation. The nation became somber and silent. Religious
-life was but a step removed from heresy. Religion died. Original thought
-was above all things dangerous. The Spaniard took refuge in Routine.
-Social intercourse was obviously full of peril. A prudent man kept
-himself to himself, and was glad to escape the observation of his
-neighbors. Castile became a spiritual desert. The Castilian wrapped
-himself in his cloak, and sought safety in dignified abstraction.
-
-The Holy Office has done its work in Spain. A rapacious government, an
-enslaved people, a hollow religion, a corrupt Church, a century of
-blood, three centuries of shame, all these things followed in its wake.
-And the country of Viriatus and Seneca, of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius,
-where Ruy Diaz fought, and Alfonso studied, and where two warrior kings
-in two successive centuries defied Rome temporal and Rome spiritual, and
-all the crusaders of Europe--Spain, hardly conquered by Scipio or by
-Cæsar, was enslaved by the dead hand of Dominic.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THEIR CATHOLIC MAJESTIES
-
-THE BANISHMENT OF THE JEWS--INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS--THE SPANIARDS IN
-ITALY--THE VICTORIES OF GONSALVO--THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
-
-
-The fall of Granada left the Catholic sovereigns free to turn their
-attention more completely to the domestic affairs of the kingdom; and it
-seems moreover to have increased the bigotry both of the Church and of
-the Court, and to have added new zeal to the fury of the Inquisition.
-
-The conquest of the Moorish kingdom was said by pious ecclesiastics to
-be a special sign or manifestation of the approval by Heaven of the
-recent institution of the Holy Office. The knights and nobles, proud of
-their military successes, may have attributed the victory to causes more
-flattering to their valor, their skill, and their perseverance. The
-common people, as yet not demoralized, but gorged with plunder, and
-invited to occupy without purchase the fairest province in the
-Peninsula, were little disposed to quarrel with the policy of Ferdinand;
-and far from feeling any pity for the sufferings of the vanquished
-Moors, they sighed for new infidels to pillage. And new infidels were
-promptly found.
-
-The Inquisition so far had troubled itself but little with Christian
-heretics. The early Spanish Protestantism of the thirteenth century had
-died away. The later Spanish Protestantism of the sixteenth century had
-not yet come into existence. Few men had done more than Averroes of
-Cordova and Ramon Lull of Palma to awaken religious thought in Medieval
-Europe; yet speculative theology has never been popular among the
-Spanish people. It was against the Jews, renegade or relapsed, even more
-than the avowedly unconverted, that the Holy Office directed all its
-exertions until the end of the fifteenth century. By April, 1492,
-although a great number of the unfortunate Hebrews had already found
-their way to the Quemadero, there was still a very large Jewish
-population in Spain, the most industrious, the most intelligent, the
-most orderly, but, unhappily for themselves, the most wealthy of all the
-inhabitants of the Peninsula.
-
-The Spanish Jews, as we have seen, were treated on the arrival of the
-Arab conquerors not only with consideration, but with an amount of favor
-that was not extended to them under any other government in the world;
-nor was this wise liberality, as time went on, displayed only by the
-Moslem in Spain. At the Christian courts of Leon, of Castile, and of
-Catalonia, the Jews were welcomed as lenders of money and as healers of
-diseases, and as men skilled in many industrial arts; and they supplied
-what little science was required in northern Spain, while their brethren
-shared in the magnificent culture and extended studies of Cordova. When
-the rule of the Arab declined, and Alfonso el Sabio held his court at
-southern Seville, the learned Jews were his chosen companions. They
-certainly assisted him in the preparation of his great astronomical
-tables. They probably assisted him in his translation of the Bible.
-
-Nor does this court favor appear to have caused any serious jealousy
-among Christian Spaniards. The fellow-student of Alfonso X., the trusted
-treasurer of Peter the Cruel, the accommodating banker of many a king
-and many a noble--the Jew was for some time a personage of importance
-rather than a refugee in the Peninsula. And during the whole of the
-thirteenth century, while the Jews were exposed throughout western
-Europe to the most dreadful and systematic persecutions, they enjoyed in
-Spain not only immunity, but protection, not only religious freedom, but
-political consideration.
-
-Under Alfonso XI. they were particularly regarded, and even under Peter
-the Cruel, who, though he tortured and robbed his Hebrew treasurer, did
-not at any time display his natural ferocity in any form of religious
-persecution. Yet, as we are told that his rival and successor, Henry of
-Trastamara, sought popular favor by molesting the Jews, it would seem
-that already by the end of the fourteenth century they were becoming
-unpopular in Castile. But on the whole, throughout the Peninsula, from
-the time of James I. of Aragon, who is said to have studied ethics under
-a Jewish professor, to the time of John II. of Castile, who employed a
-Jewish secretary in the compilation of a national “Cancionero,” or
-ballad book, the Jews were not only distinguished, but encouraged, in
-literature and abstract science, as they had always been in the more
-practical pursuits of medicine and of commerce.
-
-But in less than a century after the death of Alfonso X. the tide of
-fortune had turned. Their riches increased overmuch in a disturbed and
-impoverished commonwealth, and public indignation began to be displayed,
-rather at their un-Christian opulence than at their Jewish faith.
-Inquisition was made rather into their strongboxes than into their
-theology; and it was their debtors and their rivals, rather than any
-religious purists, who, toward the end of the fourteenth century, and
-more especially in Aragon, stirred up those popular risings against
-their race that led to the massacres and the wholesale conversions of
-1391. The first attack that was made upon the persons and property of
-the Jews was in 1388, and it was no doubt provoked by the preaching of
-the fanatic archdeacon Hernando Martinez at Seville. But it was in
-nowise religious in its character, and was aimed chiefly at the
-acquisition and destruction of the property of the rich and prosperous
-Hebrews. The outbreaks which took place almost simultaneously in all
-parts of Spain were disapproved both by kings and councils. Special
-judges were sent to the disturbed cities, and a considerable amount of
-real protection was extended to the plundered people. No one said a word
-about conversion; or at least the conversion was that of ancient Pistol,
-the conversion of the property of the Jews into the possession of the
-Christians. When the Jewish quarter of Barcelona was sacked by the
-populace, and an immense number of Hebrews were despoiled and massacred
-throughout the country, John of Aragon, indolent though he was, used his
-utmost endeavors to check the slaughter. He punished the aggressors, and
-he even caused a restitution of goods to be made to such of the victims
-as survived.
-
-The preaching of St. Vincent Ferrer, during the early part of the
-fifteenth century, was addressed largely to the Jews in Spain, but
-little or no religious persecution seems to have been directed against
-them in consequence of his harangues. On the contrary, we read of
-friendly conferences or public disputations between Jewish and Christian
-doctors in Aragon, where the Inquisition was, at least, nominally
-established. Such conferences could hardly be expected to convince or
-convert the advocates of either faith, but they tell at least of an
-amount of toleration on the part of the Christian authorities of the day
-that was certainly not to be found in Spain at the close of the century;
-and there is no doubt that they were followed by a very large number of
-conversions of the more malleable members of the Hebrew community. But
-it is a far cry from St. Vincent Ferrer to the uncanonized Tomas de
-Torquemada.
-
-Yet, even in outward conformity to the established religion, the Jews,
-as time went on, found no permanent safety from persecution and plunder.
-John II. indeed had little of the bigot in his composition; it was
-Politics and not Persecution that, under his successor, engrossed the
-attention of clergy and laity in Castile; but, as soon as the power of
-Isabella was formally established, the destruction of all that was not
-orthodox, Catholic, and Spanish became the keynote of the domestic
-policy of the new government of Spain.
-
-The earliest efforts of the Spanish Inquisition were directed, as we
-have seen, almost exclusively against those converted Jews, or the sons
-and daughters of converts, who were known by the expressive name of New
-Christians, a title applied also to Christianized Moslems, and which
-distinguished both classes from the Old Christians or Cristianos Viejos,
-who could boast of a pure Castilian ancestry. These New Christians, as a
-whole, at the end of the fifteenth century, were among the richest, the
-most industrious, and the most intelligent of the population, and they
-were regarded with considerable envy by their poorer neighbors, whose
-blue blood did not always bring with it either wealth or fortune. The
-Rules and Regulations for the guidance of the Inquisitors were therefore
-specially framed to include every possible act or thought that might
-bring the members of the classes specially aimed at within the deadly
-category of the Relapsed. If the “New Christian” wore a clean shirt, or
-spread clean table-linen on a Saturday (Art. 4), if he ate meat in Lent
-(7), observed any of the Jewish fasts (8-17), or sat at table with any
-Jew of his acquaintance (19); if he recited one of the Psalms of David
-without the addition of the Doxology (20), if he caused his child to be
-baptized under a Hebrew name (23), he was to be treated as a renegade
-and condemned to the flames.
-
-With every act of his life thus at the mercy of spies and informers, his
-last end was not unobserved by the Dominicans and the Familiars of the
-Holy Office. If in the article of death he turned his weary face (31) to
-the wall of his chamber, he was adjudged relapsed, and all his
-possessions were forfeit; or if the sorrowing children of even the most
-unexceptionable convert had washed his dead body with warm water (32)
-they were to be treated as apostates and heretics, and were at least
-liable to suffer death by fire, after their goods had been appropriated
-by the Holy Office or by the Crown.
-
-In the sentences which condemned to the stake, to confiscation, and to
-penances which were punishments of the severest description, we find
-enumerated such offenses as the avoiding the use of fat, and especially
-of lard; preparing amive, a kind of broth much appreciated by the Jews;
-or eating “Passover bread”; reading, or even possessing, a Hebrew Bible;
-ignorance of the Pater noster and the Creed; saying that a good Jew
-could be saved, and a thousand other equally harmless deeds or words.
-
-But with the professed and avowed Jew, unpopular as he may have been
-with his neighbors, and exposed at times to various forms of civil and
-religious outrage, the Holy Office did not directly concern itself. The
-Hebrew, like the Moslem, was outside the pale even of Christian inquiry.
-
-There is no doubt that it was the success of the operations against the
-Moors of Granada that suggested to Ferdinand and Isabella the
-undertaking of a campaign, easier by far, and scarcely less lucrative,
-against the unhappy descendants of Abraham who had made their home in
-Spain.
-
-The annual revenue that was derived by the Catholic sovereigns from the
-confiscations of the Inquisition amounted to a considerable income; and
-the source as yet showed no signs of drying up. Yet cupidity, marching
-hand in hand with intolerance--the Devil, as the Spanish proverb has it,
-ever lurking behind the Cross--the sovereigns resolved upon the
-perpetration of an act of State more dreadful than the most
-comprehensive of the Autos da Fe.
-
-The work of the Holy Office was too slow. The limits of the Quemadero
-were too small. Half a million Jews yet lived unbaptized in Spain. They
-should be destroyed at a single blow. The Inquisition might be left to
-reckon with the New Christians whose conversion was unsatisfactory.
-
-As soon as the Spanish Jews obtained an intimation of what was
-contemplated against them, they took steps to propitiate the sovereigns
-by the tender of a donative of thirty thousand ducats, toward defraying
-the expenses of the Moorish war; and an influential Jewish leader is
-said to have waited upon Ferdinand and Isabella, in their quarters at
-Santa Fe, to urge the acceptance of the bribe. The negotiations,
-however, were suddenly interrupted by Torquemada, who burst into the
-apartment where the sovereigns were giving audience to the Jewish
-deputy, and drawing forth a crucifix from beneath his mantle, held it
-up, exclaiming, “Judas Iscariot sold his master for thirty pieces of
-silver; Your Highnesses would sell him anew for thirty thousand; here he
-is, take him and barter him away.” The extravagant presumption of the
-Inquisitor-general would not perhaps have been as successful as it was
-had it not been obvious to the rapacious Ferdinand that thirty thousand
-ducats was a trifle compared with the plunder of the entire body of Jews
-in Spain. Yet the action of Torquemada was no doubt calculated to affect
-the superstitious mind of Isabella, and even the colder spirit of
-Ferdinand.
-
-Whatever may have been the scruples of the Spanish sovereigns, the
-fanaticism of the Spanish people had been at this critical juncture
-stirred up to an unusual pitch of fury by the proceedings and reports of
-the Holy Office in a case which has attracted an amount of attention so
-entirely disproportionate to its apparent importance that it merits
-something more than a passing notice.
-
-In June, 1490, a converted Jew of the name of Benito Garcia, on his way
-back from a pilgrimage to Compostella, was waylaid and robbed near
-Astorga, by some of the Christian inhabitants. A Jew, converted or
-otherwise, was a legitimate object of plunder. The contents of his
-knapsack not being entirely satisfactory, and the ecclesiastical
-authorities sniffing sacrilege in what was supposed to be a piece of the
-consecrated wafer, Garcia, and not the robbers, was arrested, subjected
-to incredible tortures, and finally handed over to the local
-inquisitors.
-
-His case was heard with that of other Conversos; first at Segovia and
-afterward at Avila. Tortures were repeated. Spies were introduced in
-various guises and disguises, but no confession could be extorted.
-
-At length, after a year and a half of such practices, the endurance of
-one of the accused gave way--the dreadful story affords some slight
-notion of the methods of the Inquisition--and the unhappy man invented a
-tale in accordance with what was demanded of him; the crucifixion of a
-Christian child; the tearing out of his heart, the theft of the Host
-from a Christian Church, and a magical incantation over the dreadful
-elements, directed against Christianity, and more particularly against
-the Holy Office. The Tribunal having been thus satisfied of the guilt
-of the accused, a solemn Auto da Fe was held at Avila, on the 16th of
-November, 1491, when two of the convicts were torn to death with red-hot
-pincers; three who had been more mercifully permitted to die under the
-preliminary tortures were burned in effigy; while the remaining
-prisoners were visited only with the slight punishment of strangulation
-before their consignment to the inevitable fire. That no boy, with or
-without a heart, could be found or invented, by the most rigorous
-examination; that no Christian child had disappeared from the
-neighborhood of the unhappy Jews at the time of their arrest--this
-surprised no one. In matters of Faith such evidences were wholly
-superfluous. Secura judícat Ecclesia.
-
-That these poor Hebrews should have suffered torture and death for an
-imaginary sacrilege upon the person of an imaginary boy was indeed a
-thing by no means unexampled in the history of religious fanaticism. But
-the sequel is certainly extraordinary. With a view of exciting the
-indignation of the sovereigns and of the people against the Jews at an
-important moment, Torquemada devoted much attention to the publication
-throughout Spain of the dreadful story of the murdered boy, the Niño of
-La Guardia, the village where the crime is supposed to have taken place.
-As to the name of the victim, the authorities did not agree. Some
-maintained that it was Christopher, while others declared for John. But
-the recital of the awful wickedness of the Jews lost none of its force
-by adverse criticism. The legend spread from altar to altar throughout
-the country. The Niño de la Guardia at once became a popular hero, in
-course of time a popular saint; miracles were freely worked upon the
-spot where his remains had not been found, and something over a century
-later (1613) his canonization was demanded at Rome.
-
-His remains, it was asserted by Francisco de Quevedo, could not be found
-on earth, only because his body as well as his soul had been
-miraculously carried up to heaven, where it was the most powerful
-advocate and protector of the Spanish monarchy. The story, moreover, has
-been twice dramatized--once by Lope de Vega--and no less than three
-admiring biographies of this imaginary martyr have been published in
-Spain within the last forty years of this nineteenth century.
-
-At length from conquered Granada, on the 30th of March, 1492, the
-dreadful edict went forth. By the 30th of July not a Jew was to be left
-alive in Spain. Sisenand, indeed, nine hundred years before, had
-promulgated such an edict. But the Visigoth had been too tender-hearted
-to enforce it. Isabella, whose gentleness and goodness historians are
-never tired of applauding, was influenced by no such considerations, and
-the sentence was carried out to the letter. With a cruel irony, the
-banished people were permitted to sell their property, yet forbidden to
-carry the money out of the kingdom, a provision which has obtained the
-warm approval of more than one modern Spanish historian, by whom it is
-accepted as a conclusive proof that this wholesale depopulation did not
-and could not diminish the wealth of Spain!
-
-Thus two hundred thousand Spaniards, men, women, and children of tender
-years, rich and poor, men of refinement and of position, ladies reared
-in luxury, the aged, the sick, the infirm, all were included in one
-common destruction, and were driven, stripped of everything, from their
-peaceful homes, to die on their way to some less savage country. For the
-sentence was carried out with the most relentless ferocity. Every road
-to the coast, we read, was thronged with the unhappy fugitives,
-struggling to carry off some shred of their ruined homes. To succor them
-was death; to pillage them was piety. At every seaport, rapacious
-shipmasters exacted from the defenseless travelers the greater part of
-their remaining possessions, as the price of a passage to some
-neighboring coast; and in many cases the passenger was tossed overboard
-ere the voyage was completed, and his goods confiscated to the crew. A
-rumor having got abroad that the fugitives were in the habit of
-swallowing jewels and gold pieces in order to evade the royal decree,
-thousands of unhappy beings were ripped up by the greedy knife of the
-enemy, on land or sea, on the chance of discovering in their mutilated
-remains some little store of treasure.
-
-And thus, north, south, east, and west, the Jews straggled and struggled
-over Spain; and undeterred by the manifold terrors of the sea, a vast
-multitude of exiles, whose homes in Spain once lay in sunny Andalusia,
-sought and found an uncertain abiding place in neighboring Africa.
-
-Of all Christian countries, it was in neighboring Portugal that the
-greatest number of the exiles found refuge and shelter; until, after
-five brief years of peace and comparative prosperity, the heavy hand of
-Castilian intolerance once more descended upon them, and they were
-driven out of the country, at the bidding of Isabella and her too
-dutiful daughter, the hope of Portugal and of Castile.
-
-But to every country in Europe the footsteps of some of the sufferers
-were directed. Not a few were permitted to abide in Italy and Southern
-France; some of the most distinguished found a haven in England; many
-were fortunate enough to reach the Ottoman dominions, where, under the
-tolerant government of the Turk, they lived and prospered, and where
-their descendants, at many of the more important seaports of the Levant,
-are still found to speak the Castilian of their forefathers.
-
-That the edict of banishment was meant to be, as it so constantly was, a
-doom of death, and not merely a removal of heretics, is clear from the
-action of the Spanish sovereigns, who, at the instigation of Torquemada,
-procured from the pliant Innocent VIII. a Bull enjoining the authorities
-of every country in Christian Europe to arrest and send back to Spain
-all _fugitive_ Jews under penalty of the Greater Excommunication.
-
-More than once, indeed, the demand for extradition was made. But save in
-the case of the Portuguese Jews, on the second marriage of the Princess
-Isabella to the reigning sovereign of that country, no foreign prince
-appears to have paid any heed to this savage edict. Nor was it, as a
-rule, of any material advantage, either at Rome or at Seville, that it
-should be put in force.
-
-Avarice was perhaps the besetting sin of Rome in the fifteenth century;
-nor was bigotry unknown throughout Western Europe. But in Spain, as the
-century drew to a close, avarice and bigotry joined hand in hand, and
-flourished under royal and noble patronage, preached by religion,
-practiced by policy, and applauded by patriotism. It was not strange
-that, under such teaching, the people of Castile should have rapidly
-become demoralized, and that the great race should have begun to develop
-that sordid and self-satisfied savagery which disgraced the name of the
-Spaniard, in the heartless and short-sighted plunder of the new world
-that lay before him.
-
-Yet in all human affairs there is something that too often escapes our
-observation, to explain, if not to excuse, what may seem the most
-dreadful aberrations of the better nature of man. And it may be that the
-uncompromising religious spirit, which has had so enormous an influence
-for evil and for good upon the Spanish people, is to some extent the
-result of their Semitic environment of eight hundred years.
-
-Religious controversy indeed, between rival branches of the Christian
-Church in the days of the Visigoths, developed religious animosities
-before the first Moslem landed at Tarifa; yet the Arab and the Moor,
-fired with the enthusiasm of a new and living faith, brought into their
-daily life in Spain, in peace and in war, a deep and all-pervading
-religious spirit--an active recognition of the constant presence of one
-true God--unknown to the Roman or the Visigoth, which must have had an
-enormous influence upon the grave and serious Spaniards who lived under
-the rule of the Arab.
-
-Nor was the Moslem the only factor in this medieval development. In no
-other country in Europe was the Jew, as we have seen, more largely
-represented, and more powerful, for the first fifteen centuries of our
-era, than in Spain, whether under Christian or Moslem masters. But the
-direct and simple monotheism of the Hebrew and the Arab, while it had so
-great a direct influence upon Spanish Christianity, provoked as part of
-the natural antagonism to the methods of the rival and the enemy, the
-counter development of an excessive Hagiolatry, Mariolatry, and
-Sacerdotalism.
-
-It would be strange enough if the religious fervor which doomed to death
-and torment so many tens of thousands of Semites in Spain should be
-itself of Semitic suggestion. It is hardly less strange that the Greek
-Renaissance, which revolutionized the Christian world, and whose
-anti-Semitic influence to the present day is nowhere more marked than in
-every department of religious thought, should by the irony of fate have
-been forestalled by a writer, at once Spanish and Semitic; and when, by
-the sixteenth century, the rest of modern Europe had been led by the
-teaching of Averroes to accept the philosophy of Aristotle, Spain, the
-earliest home of Hellenism, new born in Europe, had already turned again
-to a religious Philistinism or Phariseeism of the hardest and most
-uncompromising type, Semitic in its thoroughness, Greek only in its
-elaborate accessories, and Spanish in its uncompromising rigor.
-
-Thus it was that the Arab and the Jew, parents, in some sense, of the
-religious spirit of Ximenez and of Torquemada, became themselves the
-objects of persecution more bitter than is to be found in the annals of
-any other European nation. The rigors of the Spanish Inquisition, and
-the policy that inspired and justified it, are not to be fully explained
-by the rapacity of Ferdinand, the bigotry of Isabella, the ambition of
-Ximenez, or the cruelty of Torquemada. They were in a manner the
-rebellion or outbreak of the old Semitic spirit against the Semite,
-the ignorant jealousy of the wayward disciple against the master
-whose teaching has been but imperfectly and unintelligently
-assimilated--perverted, distorted, and depraved by the human or devilish
-element which is to be found in all religions, and which seems ever
-striving to destroy the better, and to develop the worser part of the
-spiritual nature of man.
-
-We now enter upon a period of European history which is but feebly
-characterized by the term interesting, and which has been too accurately
-chronicled and too severely investigated to be called romantic; when a
-well-founded jealousy, or fear of the growing power of France, alone
-supplies the key to the ever-changing foreign policy of the sovereigns
-of Spain. Genuine State papers of the fifteenth century are by no means
-numerous. In such of them, however, as are still extant, we find the
-fear expressed over and over again that the kings of France would render
-themselves “masters of the world,” would “establish a universal empire,”
-or “subject the whole of Christendom to their dictation.” The best means
-to avert such a danger appeared to contemporary statesmen to be the
-foundation of another European State as a counterpoise. Ferdinand the
-Catholic, ambitious, diplomatic, and capable, was the first prince who
-undertook the enterprise.
-
-Within less than three years after the Inquisition had been established
-at Seville, Louis XI. of France, the old rival and colleague of John II.
-of Aragon, had died in Paris, August 30, 1483. He was succeeded by his
-son Charles VIII., a young prince whose ignorance was only equaled by
-his vanity, and was if possible exceeded by his presumption. With such
-an antagonist, Ferdinand of Aragon was well fitted to deal, with
-advantage to himself and to Spain. To win over the Duchess of Bourbon,
-who had virtually succeeded to the government of France on the death of
-Louis XI., and to marry his eldest daughter Isabella to the young King
-Charles VIII., were accordingly the first objects of his negotiations.
-But in spite of all the flattery lavished on the duchess, Ferdinand did
-not succeed in obtaining the crown for the Infanta. A more richly
-dowered bride was destined for the King of France, to whom the
-acquisition of the province of Brittany was of far greater importance
-than the doubtful friendship of Spain; and after much public and private
-negotiation, the Spanish embassador was reluctantly withdrawn from Paris
-in the summer of 1487 (29th of July).
-
-Disappointed in his dealing with the court of France, the ever-watchful
-and persistent Ferdinand turned his eyes to England; and in the last
-days of the year 1487 an embassador from the Spanish sovereigns,
-Roderigo de Puebla, doctor of canon and civil law, arrived at the court
-of London. Henry VII., who greatly desired to establish a closer
-alliance with Spain, succeeded in flattering the new envoy, and
-rendering him almost from the first subservient to his personal
-interests. Yet the King of England and the Spanish embassador together
-were no match for Ferdinand of Aragon. The negotiations between the
-sovereigns were prolonged for two years, and in the end Henry was
-worsted at every point. He had signed a treaty of offensive alliance
-with Spain against France, with which power he wisely desired to
-maintain friendly relations, and he had been prevailed upon to send some
-English troops into Brittany to co-operate with a Spanish contingent
-which never arrived, in the expulsion of the French from that country.
-He had concluded further treaties of friendship and alliance with the
-King of the Romans, who was actually encouraging Perkin Warbeck to
-assert his claim to the crown of England, and with the Archduke Philip,
-whom he personally and independently hated. And he had been forced to
-content himself with the promise of a very modest dowry with the Spanish
-princess who was affianced to his son Arthur, Prince of Wales.
-
-Relatively too, as well as positively, he had been falsely borne in
-hand. Maximilian, who had been no less ready than Henry with his
-promises to Ferdinand, did not send a single soldier into Brittany, but
-endeavored to overreach Henry, Charles, and Ferdinand by a hasty
-marriage--by proxy--with the young duchess, without the consent or
-knowledge of either England or Spain. Yet this diplomatic victory over
-the very astute Englishman did not satisfy Ferdinand and Isabella, who,
-fearful lest they should “become the victims of their honesty” if they
-permitted Maximilian to surpass them in political perfidy, immediately
-renewed secret negotiations with France, and declared themselves ready
-to abandon the king, the duchess, and the emperor. Charles, they
-promised, should obtain what he wished, without risking the life of a
-single soldier, if only he would marry a Spanish Infanta. And they
-offered him, not Isabella, their eldest born, but their second daughter,
-Joanna.
-
-Charles, however, had other views, and finding no cohesion or certainty
-in Ferdinand’s league against him, strengthened his cause and his
-kingdom by marrying the Duchess Anne of Brittany himself, and uniting
-her hereditary dominions forever to the crown of France, a fair stroke
-of policy for a foolish sovereign in the midst of crafty and
-unscrupulous adversaries. (December 13, 1491.)
-
-Ferdinand replied by calling on Henry VII. to fulfill his engagements
-and invade France. Henry accordingly, on the 1st of October, 1492,
-landed an army at Calais, and marched on Boulogne; while Ferdinand,
-without striking a blow either for Spain or for England, took advantage
-of the English expedition to extort from the fears and folly of Charles
-VIII. the favorable conditions of peace and alliance that were embodied
-in the celebrated Convention which was signed at Barcelona on the 19th
-of January, 1493. By this instrument it was provided that each of the
-high contracting parties should mutually aid each other against all
-enemies, the Vicar of Christ alone excepted, that the Spanish sovereigns
-should not enter into an alliance with any other power, to the prejudice
-of the interests of France, and finally, that the coveted provinces of
-Roussillon and Cerdagne, whose recovery had long been one of the chief
-objects of Ferdinand’s ambition, should be immediately handed over to
-Spain.
-
-The services of England being no longer needed by the peninsular
-sovereigns, Ferdinand abruptly broke off all further negotiations with
-Henry VII.; the signatures of Ferdinand and Isabella to the treaty which
-had already been ratified were disposed of by the simple but effective
-expedient of cutting them out of the parchment with a pair of scissors;
-and the contract of marriage between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and the
-Infanta Catharine--having served its immediate diplomatic purpose--was
-removed, for the time being,[7] from the sphere of practical politics.
-
-It is sufficiently characteristic of both parties, that in the treaty of
-Barcelona, between Charles and Ferdinand, Naples, the true objective of
-the young king of France, was not even mentioned. Ferdinand, well
-content with the immediate advantages obtained by the treaty, was by no
-means imposed upon by such vain reticence, while Charles, pluming
-himself upon the success of his diplomacy in his treaties with England,
-with Spain, and with the empire, looked forward to establishing himself
-without opposition on the throne of Naples, on his way to assume the
-Imperial purple at Constantinople.
-
-The kingdom of Naples, on the death of Alfonso the Magnanimous of
-Aragon, had passed, we have already seen, to his illegitimate son
-Ferdinand, who proved to be a tyrant of the worst Italian type,
-worthless, contemptible and uninteresting. To expel this hated monarch,
-for whom not one of his Neapolitan subjects would have been found to
-strike a blow in anger, seemed but a chivalrous and agreeable pastime to
-the vain and ignorant youth who had succeeded Louis XI. upon the throne
-of France. His more experienced neighbors indeed smiled with some
-satisfaction at his presumption. Yet, strange to say, the judgment of
-the vain and ignorant youth was just; and the wise men, who ridiculed
-his statesmanship, and scoffed at his military ineptitude, were doomed
-to great and astounding disappointment.
-
-Before the French preparations for the invasion of Italy were fairly
-completed, in the early spring of 1494, Ferdinand of Naples died, and
-was succeeded by his son Alfonso I., the cousin-german of Ferdinand of
-Aragon. This change of rulers altered in no way the wild schemes of
-Charles of France, nor, although the new king of Naples was far less
-odious than his father had been in his own dominions, did it make any
-important change in the condition of Italian politics. By the month of
-June, 1494, the French preparations were so far advanced that Charles
-judged it opportune to acquaint his Spanish allies with his designs on
-Naples, and to solicit their active co-operation in his undertaking.
-
-That Ferdinand should, under any possible circumstances, have been found
-to spend the blood and treasure of Spain in assisting any neighbor,
-stranger, or ally, in any enterprise, without direct advantage to
-himself, was a supposition entirely extravagant. But that he should
-assist a feather-headed Frenchman to dispossess a son of Aragon of a
-kingdom from which his own ancestors had thrice driven a French
-pretender, and where, if any change were to be made in the sovereignty,
-his own rights of succession were far superior to the shadowy claims
-derived from the hated Angevins: this was a thing so grotesquely
-preposterous that it is hard to suppose that even Charles of France
-should have regarded it as being within the bounds of possibility.
-Ferdinand contented himself for the moment with expressions of
-astonishment and offers of good advice, while Charles pushed forward his
-preparations for the invasion of Italy. Don Alfonso de Silva, dispatched
-by the court of Spain as a special envoy, came up with the French army
-at Vienne, on the Rhone, toward the end of June, 1494. But he was
-instructed rather to seek, than to convey, intelligence of any sort; nor
-was it to be supposed that his grave remonstrances or his diplomatic
-warnings should have had much effect upon the movements of an army that
-was already on the march.
-
-In August, 1494, thirty thousand men, hastily equipped, yet well
-provided with the new and dreadful weapon that was then first spoken of
-as a cannon, crossed the Alps, and prepared to fight their way to
-Naples. But no enemy appeared to oppose their progress. The various
-States of Italy, jealous of one another, if not actually at war, were
-unable or unwilling to combine against the invader; the roads were
-undefended; the troops fled; the citizens of the isolated cities opened
-their gates, one after the other, at the approach of the strange and
-foreign invader. The French army, in fine, after a leisurely promenade
-militaire through the heart of Italy, marched unopposed into Rome on the
-last day of the year 1494.
-
-Ferdinand and Isabella had, in the first instance, offered no serious
-opposition to the French enterprise, which appeared to them to be
-completely impracticable; and they had awaited with diplomatic
-equanimity the apparently inevitable disaster, which, without the loss
-of a single Spanish soldier or the expenditure of a single maravedi,
-would at once have served all the purposes of Ferdinand, and permitted
-him to maintain his reputation for goodwill toward Charles, which might
-have been useful in future negotiations. The astonishing success of the
-French invasion took the Spanish sovereigns completely by surprise, and
-it became necessary for Ferdinand to adopt, without haste, but with
-prudent promptitude, a new policy at once toward France and toward the
-various parties in Italy.
-
-The boldest and the most capable of all the sovereigns of Italy, in
-these trying times, was the Spanish Pontiff, who by a singular fate has
-been made, as it were, the whipping boy for the wickedness of nineteen
-centuries of popes at Rome, and who is known to every schoolboy and
-every scribbler as the infamous Alexander VI. Roderic Lenzuoli, or
-Llançol, was the son of a wealthy Valencian gentleman, by Juana, a
-sister of the more distinguished Alfonso Borja, bishop of his native
-city of Valencia.
-
-Born at Valencia about 1431, Roderic gave evidence from his earliest
-years of a remarkable strength of character, and of uncommon
-intellectual powers. While still a youth, he won fame and fortune as an
-advocate. But his impatient nature chafed at the moderate restraint of a
-lawyer’s gown; and he was on the point of adopting a military career,
-when the election of his uncle to the Supreme Pontificate as Calixtus
-III. in 1455 opened for him the way to a more glorious future. At the
-instance of the new Pope, Roderic adopted his mother’s name, in the
-Italian form already so well known and distinguished at the court of
-Rome, and taking with him his beautiful mistress, Rosa Vanozza, whose
-mother he had formerly seduced, he turned his back upon his native
-Valencia, and sought the fortune that awaited him at the capital of the
-world.
-
-Unusually handsome in person, vigorous in mind and body, masterful,
-clever, eloquent, unscrupulous, absolutely regardless of all laws, human
-or divine, in the gratification of his passions and the accomplishment
-of his designs, Roderic, the Pope’s nephew, was a man made for success
-in the society in which he was to find himself at Rome. On his arrival
-at the Papal court in 1456 he was received with great kindness by his
-uncle, and was soon created Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal of St.
-Nicholas _in Carcere Tulliano_, and Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman
-Church. On the death of Calixtus in 1458, the Cardinal Roderic Borgia
-sank into comparative insignificance; and during the reigns of Pius II.,
-Paul II., Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII. we hear little of him but that
-he was distinguished for his amours, for his liberality in the disposal
-of his fortune, and for his attention to public business. Having thus
-secured the goodwill of many of the cardinals and the affection of the
-Roman people, he had no difficulty, on the death of Innocent VIII. in
-July, 1492, in making a bargain with a majority of the members of the
-Sacred College, in accordance with which he was elected Pope, and took
-the title of Alexander VI. on the 26th of August, 1492.
-
-His election was received by the Roman people with the utmost
-satisfaction, and celebrated with all possible demonstrations of joy.
-His transcendent abilities and his reckless methods could not fail to
-render him obnoxious to his companions and his rivals in Italy; but it
-is due rather to his foreign origin, his Valencian independence of
-character, and above all his insolent avoidance of hypocrisy in the
-affairs of his private life, that he has been made a kind of
-ecclesiastical and Papal scapegoat, a Churchman upon whose enormous
-vices Protestant controversialists are never tired of dilating, and
-whose private wickedness is ingenuously admitted by Catholic apologists
-as valuable for the purposes of casuistic illustration, as the one
-instance of a divinely infallible judge whose human nature yet remained
-mysteriously impure, and whose personal or individual actions may be
-admitted to have been objectively blamable.
-
-To measure the relative depths of human infamy is an impossible as well
-as an ungrateful task. It is not given to mortals to know the secrets of
-the heart. But bad as Alexander undoubtedly was, he was possibly no
-worse than many of his contemporaries in the Consistory, less wicked
-than some of his predecessors at the Vatican. The guilt of greater and
-more vigorous natures passes for superlative infamy with the crowd; but
-when dispassionately compared with that of his immediate predecessors,
-Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII., the character of Alexander VI. is in
-almost every respect less flagitious and more admirable.
-
-So unblushing was the venality of the Holy See in the fourteenth century
-that sacred dialecticians and jurists of high authority were found
-seriously to argue that the Pope was not subjectively capable of
-committing the offense of Simony. It might have been contended with
-equal justice that in every other respect he was at once above, or
-without, the scope of the entire moral law. Nor can it be said that the
-fifteenth century brought any serious amendment.
-
-From the death of Benedict XI., in 1303, to the death of Alexander VI.,
-in 1503, the night was dark before the inevitable dawn; and in every
-phase of human depravity, in every development of human turpitude, in
-arrogance, in venality, in cruelty, in licentiousness, medieval Popes
-may be found pre-eminent among contemporary potentates. Thus, if the
-wickedness of Alexander was extravagant, it was by no means
-unparalleled, even among the Popes of a single century. His cruelty was
-no greater than that of Urban VI., or of Clement VII., or of John XXII.
-His immorality was, at least, more human than that of Paul II. and of
-Sixtus IV., nor were his amours more scandalous than those of Innocent
-VIII. His sacrilege was less dreadful than that of Sixtus IV. His
-covetousness could hardly have exceeded that of Boniface IX.; his
-arrogance was less offensive than that of Boniface VIII. If he was
-unduly subservient to Ferdinand and Isabella in his toleration of the
-enormities of Torquemada, his necessities as an Italian sovereign
-rendered the Spanish alliance a matter of capital importance. As a civil
-potentate and as a politician, he was not only wiser, but far less
-corrupt than Sforza, less rapacious than Ferdinand, more constant than
-Maximilian of Germany, less reckless than Charles of France. His
-administrative ability, his financial enlightenment, his energy as
-regards public works, were no less remarkable than his personal
-liberality, his affability, and his courage. His division of the New
-World by a stroke of the pen was an assumption of imperial power which
-was at least justified by the magnitude of its success. As he sat in his
-palace on the Mons Vaticanus, he was the successor, not of Caligula, but
-of Tiberius--not of Commodus, but of Diocletian.
-
-Of the misfortunes of his eldest son, created by Ferdinand Duke of
-Gandia; of the wickedness of his second son, the fifteenth century
-Cæsar, who succeeded his father as Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia; of
-the profligacy of his daughter, so unhappily named Lucretia; of the
-marriage of his youngest son Geoffrey to a daughter of Alfonso of
-Naples, as a part of the treaty of alliance between the kingdom of the
-Two Sicilies and the States of the Church, in 1494; of the alliance
-between Alexander and Bajazet, and the poisoning of the Sultan’s
-brother, Zem, after thirteen years’ captivity, on receipt of an
-appropriate fee; of the elevation of a facile envoy to the full rank of
-Cardinal, to please the Grand Turk; of all these things nothing need be
-said in this place.
-
-We are more immediately concerned to know that on New Year’s Day, 1495,
-Pope Alexander VI., a refugee, if not actually a prisoner, in the Castle
-of St. Angelo, was fain to accept the terms that were imposed upon him
-by the victorious Frenchmen--masters for the nonce of Italy and of Rome.
-
-As Charles VIII. was marching through Italy, and was approaching, all
-unopposed, the sacred city of Rome, Alexander VI., anxious at all
-hazards to obtain the assistance of his countrymen in the hour of
-danger, had sent an envoy to the Spanish court representing the critical
-state of affairs in Italy, assuring the king and queen of his constant
-goodwill, in spite of certain disputes as to the Papal authority in
-Spain, and conveying to them, with other less substantial favors, the
-grant of the Tercias, or two-ninths of the tithes throughout all the
-dominions of Castile, an impost which, until the middle of the present
-century, formed a part of the revenues of the Spanish monarchy. He also
-conceded to the Spanish crown the right of dominion over the whole of
-northern Africa, except Fez, which had been given to the King of
-Portugal.
-
-A projected marriage between the Duke of Calabria, eldest son of the
-King of Naples, and the Infanta Maria, daughter of Ferdinand and
-Isabella, served to give the King of Spain an opportunity for
-negotiating with the Neapolitan court; and Ferdinand at the same time
-dispatched the celebrated Garcilaso de la Vega as his embassador, with
-instructions to return the most comforting assurances to the Pope at
-Rome. Yet he refrained from making any definite promises, or from
-committing himself to any definite policy. He was not a man to do
-anything rashly; and he preferred to await the course of events.
-Meanwhile, having sent a second mission from Guadalajara to the French
-court or camp, with good advice for his young friend and ally Charles
-VIII., Ferdinand betook himself with Isabella to Madrid, where the
-Spanish sovereigns devoted themselves to the preparation and equipment
-of an army to be dispatched at an opportune moment to any part of Italy
-where subsequent events might render its presence necessary. As, for
-various reasons, it was impossible that either Ferdinand or Isabella
-should accompany their army abroad, it became necessary to select a
-general. Among all the skillful leaders and gallant knights who had
-signalized themselves in the wars of Granada, it was somewhat difficult
-to decide upon a commander. But Isabella had never lost sight of
-Gonsalvo de Cordova, in whom she discerned traces of rare military
-talent; and from the moment the Sicilian expedition was planned she
-determined that he should be captain-general of the royal forces. The
-greater experience and apparently superior claims of many who had
-distinguished themselves in battle against the Moors were urged by
-Ferdinand without avail. The command was given to Gonsalvo de Cordova.
-
-But while the Spanish fleet, under the gallant Count of Trivento, was
-riding at anchor at Alicante, and Gonsalvo was preparing to embark his
-army on board the ships in that harbor, the Spanish sovereigns
-dispatched a final embassy to Charles in Italy. On the 28th of January,
-1495, as the king was leaving Rome on his way toward Naples, the
-embassadors, Juan de Albion and Antonio de Fonseca, arrived at the
-Vatican. They found Pope Alexander smarting under the humiliation of his
-recent treaty with the invader, and willing to assist them in any scheme
-for his discomfiture. They accordingly followed the French army with all
-speed, overtook it within a few miles of Rome, and immediately demanded
-an audience of Charles, even before his troops had come to a halt. They
-delivered up to him their credentials as he was riding along, and
-peremptorily required him to proceed no further toward Naples. The
-haughty tone of the Spaniards, as may be supposed, excited the greatest
-indignation in the breast of Charles and those who surrounded him; high
-words arose on both sides, and finally Fonseca, giving way to a
-simulated transport of rage, produced a copy of the once prized treaty
-of Barcelona, tore it to pieces, and threw down the fragments at
-Charles’s feet. Paul Jove seems to think that this violent and
-unjustifiable conduct on the part of the Spanish embassador was entirely
-unpremeditated; but it is certain that the whole scene had been
-preconcerted with either Ferdinand or the Pope. Zurita and the other
-chroniclers are silent on the point, but Peter Martyr in one of his
-letters affirms that the mutilation of the treaty in Charles’s presence
-was included in the secret instructions given to Fonseca by Ferdinand.
-
-The envoys, as was expected, were promptly ordered to quit the French
-camp; and retiring with all speed to Rome, they hastened to transmit to
-Spain the earliest intelligence of the success of their mission. They
-were also permitted to inform their sovereigns of the new honor that had
-been conferred upon them by his Holiness Alexander VI., in the shape of
-the grant to them and to their heirs forever on the throne of Spain of
-the title of “Catholic Kings.”
-
-Meanwhile Charles VIII. had reached Naples, which had at once opened its
-gates to the invaders, and the Castel Nuovo and the Castel d’Uovo were
-reduced to submission by their well-served artillery. King Alfonso
-abdicated the crown, and Fabricio Colonna ravaged the whole kingdom of
-Naples to the very gates of Brindisi, dispersing the little band of
-troops that had been collected by Don Cæsar of Aragon, illegitimate
-brother of the king; while Perron dei Baschi and Stuart d’Aubigny
-overran the whole country almost without striking a blow; and the
-greater part of the Neapolitan nobility gave their adhesion to the
-French. Nothing, however, could be more impolitic or more ungrateful
-than the manner in which Charles made use of his unexpectedly acquired
-authority, and it soon became evident that the new state of affairs in
-Naples would not be of very long duration. The moment for the judicious
-interference of Ferdinand of Aragon had not been long in arriving.
-
-The conduct of the French at Naples showed pretty clearly to the
-Italian States the mistake they had made in permitting Charles to enter
-the country, and they were not slow to accept the suggestions of the
-Spanish embassador, Don Lorenzo Suarez de Mendoza y Figueras, that they
-should form a league with the object of expelling the French from Italy.
-The attitude of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained at Asti, toward
-the duchy of Milan, and the favorable reception accorded by Charles to
-Giovanni Trivulzio, Cardinal Fregosi, and Hybletto dei Fieschi, the
-chiefs of the banished nobles, and the sworn enemies of Ludovico Sforza,
-showed that prince how little he had to expect from the French alliance;
-and the conduct of Charles toward the Florentines, and indeed toward
-every government whose dominion he had traversed throughout Italy,
-terrified and enraged every statesman from Milan to Syracuse.
-
-The envoys of the various states assembled at Venice. The deliberations
-in the council chamber were brief and decisive; and such was the secrecy
-with which the negotiations were conducted that the astute statesman and
-historian Philip de Commines, who then represented France at the court
-of Venice, remained ignorant that any league or convention was even
-contemplated by the various powers, until he was informed by the Doge
-Agostino Barberigo, on the morning of the 1st of April, 1495, that the
-treaty had been signed on the previous day. The avowed objects of this
-Most Holy League, which was entered into by Spain, Austria, Venice,
-Milan and the Court of Rome, were the recovery of Constantinople from
-the Turks, and the protection of the interests of the Church; but the
-secret articles of the treaty, as may be supposed, went much further,
-and provided that Ferdinand should employ the Spanish armament, now on
-its way to Sicily, in re-establishing his kinsman on the throne of
-Naples; that a Venetian fleet of forty galleys should attack the French
-positions on the Neapolitan coasts, that the Duke of Milan, the original
-summoner, should expel the French from Asti, and blockade the passage of
-the Alps, so as to prevent the arrival of further re-enforcements, and
-that the Emperor and the King of Spain should invade France on their
-respective frontiers, while the expense of all these warlike operations
-should be defrayed by subsidies from the allies. The Sultan Bajazet II.,
-though not included in the League, offered, and was permitted, to assist
-the Venetians both by sea and land against the French. Thus we see the
-strange spectacle of the Pope and the Grand Turk--the Prince of
-Christendom and the Prince of Islam--united against the first Christian
-Power of Europe, under the leadership of The Most Christian King.
-
-Within six weeks of the signature of this important treaty, Charles
-VIII. of France had caused himself to be crowned at Naples, with
-extraordinary pomp, not only as king, but as emperor; and, having thus
-gratified his puerile vanity, he abandoned his fantastic empire, and
-flying from the dangers that threatened him in Italy he returned to
-Paris. His army in Naples was intrusted to his cousin, Gilbert de
-Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, who was invested with the title of viceroy,
-and instructed by the fugitive king to maintain his position in the
-country against all opponents.
-
-It is not within the scope of this history to give any detailed account
-of the retreat of the French through Italy, of the wonderful passage of
-the Apennines at Pontremoli, and the still more wonderful victory of
-Fornovo on the Taro, when the French, whose entire force did not exceed
-ten thousand soldiers, completely routed the Italian army of thirty-five
-thousand men, under the command of Gonzago, marquis of Mantua. The
-French forces that remained in southern Italy were doomed to a very
-different fate. The command of the French army had been intrusted to the
-celebrated Stuart d’Aubigny, a knight of Scottish ancestry, who had been
-invested by Charles VIII. with the dignity of Constable of France, and
-who was accounted one of the most capable officers in Europe. But a
-greater captain than D’Aubigny was already on his way from Castile, who
-was in a single campaign to restore the reputation of the Spanish
-infantry to the proud position which they had once occupied in the
-armies of ancient Rome.
-
-Landing at Reggio in Calabria, on the 26th of May, 1495, with a force of
-all arms not exceeding five thousand fighting men, Gonsalvo de Cordova
-speedily possessed himself of that important base of operations,
-established himself on the coast, captured several inland towns, was
-victorious in many skirmishes, and would soon have overrun the whole of
-Calabria, had not the rashness of Frederic, the young king of Naples,
-who had succeeded but a few months before to the crown which Alfonso had
-abdicated after a reign of less than one year, led to a disastrous check
-at Seminara. But Gonsalvo rapidly reorganized his army, and showing
-himself, like a great general, no less admirable in repairing a defeat
-than in taking advantage of a victory, he had kept D’Aubigny so
-completely in check that he had been unable even to go to the assistance
-of Montpensier, who was in sore straits in Naples. The citizens soon
-opened their gates to their lawful sovereign, and Montpensier retreated
-with his remaining forces to Avella, on the banks of the Lagni, twenty
-miles northeast of the city of Naples, whither Gonsalvo promptly marched
-to besiege him. Having received intelligence in the course of his
-march--Gonsalvo was ever well informed--that a strong body of French,
-with some Angevin knights and nobles, were on their way to effect a
-junction with D’Aubigny, he surprised them by a night attack in the
-fortified town of Lino, where he captured every one of the Angevin
-lords, no less than twenty in number, and immediately marching off to
-Avella with his spoils and prisoners, and an immense booty, he arrived
-at Frederic’s camp early in July, just thirteen months after their
-separation on the disastrous field of Seminara.
-
-On hearing of Gonsalvo’s approach, the king marched out to meet him,
-accompanied by Cæsar Borgia, the Papal Legate, and many of the principal
-Neapolitan nobles and commanders, who greeted the victorious Castilian
-with the proud title of “The Great Captain,” by which he was already
-known to some of his contemporaries, and by which he has ever since been
-distinguished by posterity. At Avella he found a re-enforcement of five
-hundred Spanish soldiers, a welcome addition to his small force, which
-amounted on his arrival to only two thousand one hundred men, of whom
-six hundred were cavalry. With such an army, less numerous than a modern
-German regiment, did Gonsalvo overrun Calabria, out-general the most
-renowned French commanders, and defeat their gallant and
-well-disciplined forces, emboldened by uninterrupted success.
-
-The siege operations at Avella, which had been conducted without energy
-by the Neapolitans, received a new impetus from the presence of the
-Spaniard, who displayed such skill and vigor that in a few days the
-French, defeated at every point, were glad to sue for terms, and on the
-21st of July, 1496, signed a capitulation which virtually put an end to
-the war. It was meet that Gonsalvo should now pay a visit to his
-countryman at the Vatican, and having, on his way to Rome, delivered the
-town of Ostia from the dictatorship of a Basque adventurer of the name
-of Guerri, the last remaining hope of the French in Italy, he was
-received by Alexander VI. with such splendor that his entry into the
-city is said to have resembled rather the _triumph_ of a victorious
-general into ancient Rome than the visit of a modern grandee.
-
-The streets were lined with enthusiastic crowds, the windows were filled
-with admiring spectators, the very tops of the houses were covered with
-lookers-on, as Gonsalvo marched into and through the city, preceded by
-bands of music, and accompanied by his victorious army. The entire
-garrison of Ostia, with Manuel Guerri at their head, mounted on a
-wretched horse, was led captive to the Vatican, where Roderic Borgia, in
-the full splendor of his tiara and pontifical robes, and surrounded by
-his cardinals, sat on his throne awaiting the coming of his victorious
-countryman. When Gonsalvo reached the foot of the throne, he knelt down
-to receive the pontifical benediction, but Alexander raised him in his
-arms, and presented to him the Golden Rose, the highest and most
-distinguished honor that a layman could receive from the hands of the
-sovereign Pontiff.
-
-The Great Captain now returned to Naples, into which city he made an
-entry scarcely less splendid than that into Rome; and he received at the
-hands of Frederic more substantial honors than those of a golden rose,
-in the shape of the dukedom of Santangelo, with a fief of two towns and
-seven dependent villages in the Abruzzo. From Naples the new duke sailed
-for Sicily, which was then in a state of open insurrection, in
-consequence of the oppressive rule of Giovanni di Nuccia, the Neapolitan
-viceroy. By the intervention of Gonsalvo, the inhabitants were satisfied
-to return to their allegiance; and order was restored without the
-shedding of a single drop of blood. After some further services to the
-state, and to the cause of peace, services both diplomatic and military,
-in Naples, in Sicily and in Calabria, adding in every case to his
-reputation as a soldier and a statesman, and above all as a great
-Castilian gentleman, Gonsalvo returned to his native Spain, where he was
-received with the applause and respect that is not always granted to
-great men by their own sovereigns, or even by their own countrymen.
-
-His last service to King Frederic and his people, ere he quitted the
-country, was no less honorable than wise. Frederic was engaged in the
-siege of the last city in the kingdom of Naples that refused to
-recognize the dominion of Aragon, the ancient and noble city of Diano,
-whose inhabitants, vassals of that Prince of Salerno who was attached
-to the Angevin cause, refused to listen to the terms which were
-proposed. Gonsalvo took charge of the operations; and the citizens,
-convinced of the hopelessness of holding out any longer against so
-vigorous a commander, surrendered a few days afterward at discretion.
-Gonsalvo, whether touched at their bravery and their forlorn condition,
-or merely being adverse from severity for which he saw no reason,
-obtained from the king favorable terms for the garrison.
-
-The expulsion of the French from Naples put an end, as might have been
-supposed, to The Most Holy League. For the high contracting parties,
-finding themselves secure from immediate danger, conceived themselves no
-longer bound by its provisions. Maximilian, ever penniless and generally
-faithless, had made no attempt to engage in any operations on the French
-frontier, nor had any one of the allies contributed to defray the heavy
-charges incurred by the Spanish sovereigns in fulfilling their part of
-the agreement. The Venetians were rather occupied in securing for
-themselves as much of the Neapolitan territory as they could acquire, by
-way of indemnification for their own expenses. The Duke of Milan had
-already made a separate treaty with Charles VIII. Each member of the
-league, in fact, after the first alarm had subsided, had shown himself
-ready to sacrifice the common cause to his own private advantage; and
-Ferdinand of Aragon, who had already suspended his operations on the
-frontiers of Spain in October, 1496, had no difficulty in agreeing to a
-further truce as regarded Naples and Italy, which was signed on the 5th
-of March, 1497.
-
-The Spaniards had borne the entire burden of the late war. They had
-been virtually abandoned by their allies, and their unassisted
-operations had led to the deliverance of Naples, to the safety of the
-Italian States, and the humiliation and the defeat of the French. Their
-immediate objects having been thus happily accomplished, Ferdinand and
-Isabella proposed to Charles VIII., without shame or hesitation, that
-the French and Spaniards should enter into an immediate treaty of
-alliance, with a view to drive out the reigning sovereign of Naples, and
-divide his kingdom between themselves! Meanwhile the Castilian envoy to
-the Holy See endeavored to induce Alexander VI. to withhold the
-investiture of his kingdom from Frederic, the new sovereign of Naples,
-on the ground that he was friendly to the Angevin party in Italy, the
-hereditary enemies of Spain. But Alexander paid no heed to Garcilaso de
-la Vega. Charles showed himself not only willing but eager to treat with
-Fernando de Estrada; but unwilling at once to abandon all his claims to
-Italian sovereignty, he offered to cede Navarre to Ferdinand, and keep
-all Naples to himself. Proposals and counter proposals thus passed
-between France and Spain; but before any definite programme had been
-agreed to, the negotiations were cut short by the sudden death of the
-French monarch, in the tennis court at Amboise, on the eve of Easter,
-1498.
-
-The success of the Spanish arms under Gonsalvo de Cordova in Italy was
-but the beginning of a long career of triumph. From the great victory at
-Seminara, in 1503, to the great defeat of Rocroy, in 1643, the Spanish
-infantry remained unconquered in Europe. The armies of Castile had been,
-indeed, as Prescott has it, “cooped up within the narrow limits of the
-Peninsula, uninstructed and taking little interest in the concerns of
-the rest of Europe.” But the soldiers and sailors of Aragon and
-Catalonia had fought with distinction, not only in Italy and in Sicily,
-but in the furthest east of Europe, for two hundred years before the
-Great Captain of the United Kingdom set foot on the shores of Calabria.
-Yet the victories of Gonsalvo were the beginning of a new era, and his
-life is interesting, not only as that of a brave soldier and an
-accomplished general, who flourished at a very important period of the
-history of Europe; but it is further and much more interesting as being
-the history of a man who united in himself many of the characteristics
-of ancient and modern civilization, and who himself appears as a sort of
-middle term between medieval and modern times.
-
-In personal valor, in knightly courtesy, in gaudy display, he was of his
-own time. In astute generalship, and in still more astute diplomacy, an
-envoy not an adventurer, the servant and not the rival of kings, he
-belongs to a succeeding age, when the leader of a victorious army is
-prouder to be a loyal subject than a rash rebel. The Castilian lords of
-earlier days had ever been brave knights; their followers had ever been
-hardy and untiring combatants. But Gonsalvo was not only a tactician,
-but a strategist. The men whom he commanded were soldiers. Newly armed
-and admirably disciplined, the regiments were no longer the followers of
-some powerful nobleman; they formed a part of the national army of
-Spain. The short sword of their Celtiberian ancestors was once more
-found in their hands. The long lances of the Swiss mercenaries were
-adopted with conspicuous success. The drill-sergeant took the place of
-the minstrel in the camp.
-
-Nor was this revolution in the art of war confined to the conduct of the
-Spanish troops in the field. Before the close of the campaign a national
-militia, or rather a standing army, had taken the place of the brave but
-irregular levies of medieval Spain. A royal ordinance regulated the
-equipment of every individual, according to his property. A man’s arms
-were declared free from seizure for debt, even by the Crown, and smiths
-and other artificers were restricted, under severe penalties, from
-working up weapons of war into articles of more pacific use. In 1426 a
-census was taken of all persons capable of bearing arms; and by an
-ordinance issued at Valladolid, on February 22d of the same year, it was
-provided that one out of every twelve inhabitants, between twenty and
-forty-five years of age, should be enlisted for the service of the
-State, whether in the conduct of a foreign war or the suppression of
-domestic disorder.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-UNITED SPAIN
-
-THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD--VASCO DA GAMA--THE ROYAL
-MARRIAGES--DREAMS OF EMPIRE--THE DEATH OF ISABELLA--FERDINAND’S END
-
-
-The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella was made immemorial through Columbus
-and his discovery. The man and the event will, in subsequent chapters,
-be considered at length. For the present it will suffice to note that on
-his return from the New World, after being loaded with honors, a
-question arose as to Isabella’s right to confer the dignities thus
-bestowed--Portugal claiming the territory by reason of an anterior grant
-from the Pope, who, in common with all other parties, believed it to be
-part of India.
-
-The question was referred to a Junta of learned men of both nations, at
-the same time that application was made to the reigning Pope, Alexander
-VI., concerning it. The junta decided that the discoveries of Columbus
-were not included in the Portuguese grant; and his Holiness finally, as
-he conceived, terminated the dispute by drawing a line across the
-Atlantic, from pole to pole, and adjudging all lands discovered on the
-east of that line to Portugal, all on the west to Castile.
-
-In connection with this it should be noted that, in 1497, Manuel of
-Portugal sent Vasco da Gama with three ships to double the Cape of Good
-Hope, with a view to tapping India. In the month of November, Gama
-successfully doubled the formidable Cape, and sailed up the eastern
-coast of Africa, as far as Mozambique. Here he found a Moor from Fez,
-who, acting as interpreter between him and the natives, facilitated the
-conclusion of a treaty, in virtue of which the King of Mozambique was to
-furnish the adventurous navigators with pilots well acquainted with the
-course to India. But, while they were taking in wood and water, a
-quarrel arose with the natives, to whom the fault is of course imputed.
-The pilots made their escape, and hostilities ensued. They did not last
-long; the terrors of the Portuguese firearms soon compelling the
-Africans to submit. Another, and, as the king assured Gama, a better
-pilot was supplied, and on the 1st of April, 1498, he sailed from
-Mozambique.
-
-The new pilot proved quite as ill-disposed as his predecessors,
-endeavoring to betray the fleet into the power of his countrymen at
-Mombaza; and being alarmed with apprehensions of detection, by the
-bustle apparent in the crew of Gama’s ship, which had accidentally
-grounded, he also made his escape. It was not till they reached Melinda
-that they found really friendly natives. From that port Gama at last
-obtained a pilot who steered him right across the gulf to the coast of
-Malabar.
-
-The first place in India made by the Portuguese was Calecut. Here Gama
-announced himself as an embassador sent by the King of Portugal to
-negotiate a treaty of alliance with the sovereign, the zamorin of
-Calecut, one of the most powerful princes of that part of Hindustan, to
-establish commercial relations, and to convert the natives to
-Christianity. How far this last object of his mission was agreeable to
-the bigoted Hindus, or the equally bigoted Muhammadan conquerors, who
-were then the masters of those wealthy regions, we are not distinctly
-told by the Portuguese historians; but the zamorin appears in the first
-instance to have received Gama well, and been upon the whole pleased
-with his visit. This friendly intercourse was interrupted, as we are
-assured, by the intrigues of the Moors or Arabs, who, being in
-possession of the pepper trade, and indeed of the whole spice trade,
-were jealous of interlopers. Quarrels arose, and some acts of violence
-were committed. They ended, however, in Gama’s gaining the advantage,
-and friendship was restored between him and the zamorin. He reached
-Portugal in July, 1499, after a two years’ voyage, and was, like
-Columbus in Spain, loaded with honors.
-
-We may now return to Ferdinand and Isabella. This was the brightest
-period of their lives. The repulse of Charles VIII., and the victories
-of Gonsalvo, added fresh luster to their reign. Moreover, through
-measures then undertaken, the unconverted Moors were subdued, and the
-French provinces were regained; but, over and above all, a new world had
-been discovered, and marriages, seemingly the most fortunate, were
-concluded: Ferdinand and Isabella’s son and heir, Don John, having
-married the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian; their second daughter
-Joanna, Philip, the son and heir of that monarch, by Mary of Burgundy,
-and already, in right of his deceased mother, sovereign of the rich and
-fertile Netherlands; the third, Katharine, was affianced to Arthur,
-Prince of Wales; and Manuel, duke of Beja, having succeeded to his
-cousin John II. of Portugal, despite all intrigues in favor of the
-illegitimate Don George, solicited and obtained the hand of the eldest
-Infanta, the widow of the Prince of Portugal.
-
-The first to be celebrated of all these royal marriages was that of the
-Princess Isabella with Alfonso, the heir to the crown of Portugal, which
-took place in the autumn of the year 1490, and which was apparently
-calculated to lead to the happiest results. But the magnificent wedding
-festivities at Lisbon were scarce concluded when the bridegroom died,
-and the widowed princess returned disconsolate to her mother (January,
-1491).
-
-The marriage of John, prince of Asturias, was the next, and apparently
-the most important alliance that engaged the attention of his parents;
-and, moved by many considerations of policy and prestige, they turned
-their thoughts to far-away Flanders. Maximilian of Hapsburg, the titular
-sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, had, by his first wife, Mary, a
-daughter of Charles the Bold, and in her own right Duchess of Burgundy,
-been made the father of two children, Philip, born in 1478, and
-Margaret, in 1480. Their mother, the beautiful empress, died in 1482;
-and Philip, on attaining his legal majority at the age of sixteen,
-assumed, in her right, the government of the Low Countries in 1494. It
-was with this youthful sovereign, the heir to yet more splendid
-possessions, that the Catholic sovereigns desired to unite their younger
-daughter in marriage, while the hand of his sister Margaret was sought
-for the Prince of Asturias. The advantages to Spain of such a double
-marriage were enormous.
-
-If Prince John were to marry the Archduchess Margaret, the only daughter
-of the emperor, he would inherit, in the event of the death of the
-Archduke Philip without issue, the great possessions of the Hapsburgs,
-Austria, Flanders, and Burgundy, with a claim to the empire that had
-eluded his great ancestor, Alfonso X. That the Archduke Philip should in
-his turn espouse, not Isabella, the eldest, but Joanna, the second
-daughter of the Catholic king, would prevent Spain from passing under
-the dominion of Austria, even in the unlikely event of the death of
-Prince John without issue, inasmuch as Isabella of Portugal would, in
-such a case, inherit the Spanish crown, to the prejudice of her younger
-sister in Flanders. And finally, if all the young wives and husbands
-should live to a reasonable age, and should leave children behind them
-at their death, one grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella would wear the
-imperial purple as lord of Central Europe, and another would sit upon
-the throne of a great united Peninsular kingdom of Castile, Portugal,
-and Aragon.
-
-In the early autumn of 1496 (August 22), a splendid fleet set out from
-Laredo, a little port between Bilbao and Santander, which carried Joanna
-in safety to her expectant bridegroom. The archduke and the princess for
-whom so sad a fate was reserved were married at Lille with the usual
-rejoicings; and the Spanish admiral, charged a second time with a
-precious freight of marriageable royalty, brought back the Lady Margaret
-of Hapsburg with all honor to Spanish Santander, early in March, 1497.
-The marriage of the heir apparent took place at Burgos, on the 3d of
-April; and on the 4th of October of the same year, the gentle and
-accomplished Prince of Asturias had passed away from Spain, and from the
-world.
-
-Yet, once again, and for a few months, there lived an heir to United
-Spain, whose brief existence is scarce remembered in history. Isabella,
-the widowed queen of John II. of Portugal, had been persuaded or
-constrained by her parents to contract a second marriage with her
-husband’s cousin and successor Emmanuel; but the price of her hand was
-the price of blood. For it was stipulated that the Jews, who, by the
-liberality of the late king, had been permitted to find a home in his
-dominions, should be driven out of the country after the stern Castilian
-fashion of 1492, ere the widowed Isabella should wed her cousin on the
-throne of Portugal.
-
-Whether the princess was an apt pupil, or merely the slave of her mother
-and the Inquisitor that lurked behind the throne, we cannot say, but the
-Portuguese lover consented to the odious bargain. The marriage was
-solemnized at Valencia de Alcantara, in the early days of the month of
-August, 1497, and the stipulated Tribute to Bigotry was duly paid. But
-before ever the bridal party had left the town, an express had arrived
-with the news of the mortal illness of the bride’s only brother; and in
-little more than a year the young queen herself, on the 23d of August,
-1498, expired in giving birth to a son. The boy received the name of
-Miguel, and lived for nearly two years--the heir apparent of Portugal,
-of Aragon, and of Castile--until he too was involved in the general
-destruction.
-
-But some time before the death, or even before the birth of Miguel,
-another royal marriage had been concluded, whose results throughout all
-time were no less remarkable and scarce less important than that which
-handed over Spain to a Flemish emperor. For after infinite negotiations
-and more than one rupture, after some ten years’ huxtering about dowry,
-and a dozen changes of policy on the part of the various sovereigns
-interested in the alliance, Katharine, the youngest daughter of
-Ferdinand and Isabella, more familiarly known as Katharine of Aragon,
-had been married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and the first act had been
-concluded of that strange and fateful drama that led to the Reformation
-in England.
-
-The dignified sadness of her story as Queen Katharine--insulted,
-divorced, and abandoned--the unwilling heroine of the great tragic drama
-that was played in the reign of Henry VIII. of England, is known to all
-men, who extend to her, with one consent, their pity and their respect.
-But those only who know something of the seven dreary and disgraceful
-years that she spent in the palace of her father-in-law, before she was
-permitted to know, even for a season, the happiness of a husband’s love,
-or to enjoy the great position of Queen of England, may alone understand
-the fullness of the measure of her wretchedness.
-
-In June, 1504, Isabella, who had for some time been ailing, and who
-seems to have suffered from some nervous disease, was struck down
-suddenly by fever. She had lived a hard life. She had never spared
-herself, or others. The unhappy marriages of her children had cast a
-dark shadow over her life. But hers was not the nature to repine.
-Diligent, abstemious, resolute, she had borne pain and suffering, and
-she was not afraid to face death. Unable at length to rise from her
-couch, as the autumn drew to a close, she continued to transact her
-accustomed business, gave audience to embassadors, chatted with
-privileged visitors, and, in the words of an astonished stranger,
-governed the world from her bed.
-
-At last, on the 26th of November, 1504, as the church bells of Medina
-del Campo were ringing out the hour of noon, the spirit of Isabella of
-Castile flitted away from this world; and her mortal remains were
-conducted by a mournful company to their last resting place under the
-shadow of the red towers of Alhambra. Through storm and tempest, amid
-earthquake and inundation, across mountain and river, the affrighted
-travelers wended their way. For the sun was not seen by day nor the
-stars by night, during three long and weary weeks, as if the very forces
-of nature were disturbed at the death of a giant among the princes of
-the earth.
-
-The character of Isabella has suffered to an uncommon extent from an
-ignorant glorification of virtues that she was far from possessing, and
-the concealment of those transcendent powers that made her not only one
-of the greatest rulers of Spain, but one of the greatest women in the
-history of the world. Until the opening of the treasure-house at
-Simancas displayed her correspondence to the world, she was only known
-from the extravagant but somewhat colorless panegyrics of contemporary
-chroniclers, who recognized at least that she was a royal lady,
-compelling their gallant admiration, and that she was immensely
-superior to her husband, whom it was necessary also to glorify, as the
-last Spanish sovereign of Spain.
-
-Isabella was one of the most remarkable characters in history. Not only
-was she the most masterful, and, from her own point of view, by far the
-most successful ruler that ever sat upon the throne of Spain, or of any
-of the kingdoms of the Peninsula; she stands in the front rank of the
-great sovereigns of Europe, and challenges comparison with the greatest
-women who have ever held sway in the world. A reformer and a zealot, an
-autocrat and a leader of men, with a handsome face and a gracious
-manner, scarce concealing the iron will that lay beneath, Isabella was
-patient in adversity, dignified in prosperity, at all times quiet,
-determined, thorough.
-
-In one particular she stands alone among the great ruling women, the
-conquerors and empresses of history. She is the only royal lady, save,
-perhaps, Maria Theresa of Hungary, who maintained through life the
-incongruous relations of a masterful sovereign and a devoted wife, and
-shared not only her bed but her throne with a husband whom she
-respected--a fellow-sovereign whom she neither feared nor disregarded.
-To command the obedience of a proud and warlike people is given to few
-of the great men of history. To do the bidding of another with vigor and
-with discretion is a task that has been but rarely accomplished by a
-heaven-born minister. But to conceive and carry out great designs, with
-one hand in the grasp of even the most loyal of companions, is a
-triumphant combination of energy with discretion, of the finest tact
-with the most indomitable resolution, that stamps Isabella of Spain as
-a being more vigorous than the greatest men, more discreet than the
-greatest women of history. Semiramis, Zenobia, Boadicea, Elizabeth of
-England, Catherine of Russia, not one of them was embarrassed by a
-partner on the throne. The partner of Isabella was not only a husband
-but a king, jealous, restless, and untrustworthy. It is in this respect,
-and in the immense scope of her political action, that the great Queen
-of Castile is comparable with the bold Empress-King of Hungary rather
-than with any other of the great queens and royal ladies of history.
-
-The husband of Zenobia indeed enjoyed the title of Augustus; but it was
-only after his assassination that the lady earned her fame as a ruler.
-Catherine caused her imperial consort to be executed as a preliminary to
-her vigorous reign in Russia; Boadicea was the successor and not the
-colleague of Prasutagus; and Semiramis, though herself somewhat a
-mythical personage, is said to have slain both her husband and his
-rival, in her assertion of her absolute power. Yet Isabella
-revolutionized the institutions of her country, religious, political,
-military, financial, she consolidated her dominions, humiliated her
-nobles, cajoled her Commons, defied the Pope, reformed the clergy; she
-burned some ten thousand of her subjects; she deported a million more;
-and of the remnant she made a great nation; she brooked no man’s
-opposition, in a reign of thirty years, and she died in the arms of the
-king, her husband!
-
-Ferdinand of Aragon was no hero. But he was a strong man; a capable
-ruler; a clever if a treacherous diplomatist. And to this husband and
-consort was Isabella faithful through life, not merely in the grosser
-sense of the word, to which Ferdinand for himself paid so little heed;
-but in every way and walk of life. She supported him in his policy; she
-assisted him in his intrigues; she encouraged him in his ambitious
-designs; she lied for him, whenever prudence required it; she worked for
-him at all times, as she worked for Spain. For his policy, his
-intrigues, his designs were all her own. Whenever the views of the king
-and queen were for a moment discordant, Isabella prevailed, without
-apparent conflict of authority. In her assumption of supremacy in the
-marriage contract; in her nomination of Gonsalvo de Cordova to the
-command of the army; in her choice of Ximenez as the Primate of Spain,
-she carried her point, not by petulance or even by argument, but by
-sheer force of character; nor did she strain for one moment, even in
-these manifestations of her royal supremacy, the friendly and even
-affectionate relations that ever subsisted between herself and her
-husband.
-
-The love and devotion of Isabella was a thing of which the greatest of
-men might have well been proud. And though Ferdinand the Catholic may
-not fairly be counted among the greatest, he was a man wise enough to
-appreciate the merits of his queen, and to accept and maintain the
-anomalous position in which he found himself as her consort.
-
-In war at least it might have been supposed that the queen would occupy
-a subordinate position. Yet in no department of State did Isabella show
-to greater advantage than as the organizer of victorious armies; not as
-a batallador after the fashion of her distinguished ancestors in
-Castile and in Aragon; but as the originator of an entirely new system
-of military administration.
-
-Before her time, in Spain, war had been waged by the great nobles and
-their retainers in attendance upon the king. There was no such thing as
-uniformity of action or preparation, no central organization of any
-kind. Each man went into battle to fight and to forage as opportunity
-offered. Each commander vied with his fellow nobles in deeds of bravery,
-and accorded to them such support as he chose. The sovereign exercised a
-general authority, and assumed the active command of the united
-multitude of soldiers, on rare and important occasions. If victory
-followed, as at the Navas de Tolosa, the soldiers were rewarded with the
-plunder, and took possession of the property of the enemy. If the
-Christians were defeated, the army melted away; and the king betook
-himself to the nearest shelter.
-
-But Isabella had no sooner assumed the title of Queen of Castile, than
-she was called upon to maintain her pretensions in the field. With no
-experience but that of a country palace, with no training but that of a
-country cloister, she set herself to work to organize an army. On the
-1st of May, 1474, five hundred horsemen represented the entire forces of
-the fair usurper. By the 19th of July she had collected over forty
-thousand men, had armed and equipped them ready for the field, and had
-sent them forward under the command of Ferdinand to the frontier.
-Although she was at the time in delicate health, she was constantly in
-the saddle, riding long distances from fortress to fortress, hurrying up
-recruits all day, dictating letters all night, giving her zealous
-personal attention to every detail of armory and equipment, showing
-from the first that quiet energy and that natural aptitude for command
-that ever so constantly distinguished her. That her levies were not
-victorious in no way daunted her determination. A second army was raised
-by her, within a few weeks after the first had melted away under
-Ferdinand; nor would she listen to any offers of negotiation, until the
-enemy had been driven out of Castile.
-
-In the conduct of the war of Granada, with time and money at her
-command, her preparations were upon a very different scale. The most
-skillful artificers were summoned from every part of Europe to assist in
-the work of supplying the army with the necessary material of war.
-Artillery, then almost unknown to the military art, was manufactured in
-Spain according to the best designs. Model cannon were imported, and the
-necessary ammunition collected from abroad. Sword-blades were forged at
-home. Not only a commissariat, but a field hospital--institutions till
-then unheard of in Spanish warfare--were organized and maintained under
-the personal supervision of the queen. The presence of a lady on the day
-of battle would, as a rule, as she rightly judged, have been rather a
-hinderance than a help; but she was very far from being a mere
-commissioner of supply. A first-rate horsewoman, she was constantly seen
-riding about the camp, encouraging, inspecting, directing; and in the
-last days of the siege of Granada, when the spirits of the troops had
-begun to flag, she appeared daily in complete armor, and showed herself
-upon more than one occasion in a post of danger on the field. The armies
-with which Gonsalvo de Cordova overran Calabria, and annihilated the
-French at Cerignola, were prepared and dispatched by Isabella; and if,
-in a subsequent campaign, the Great Captain was left without supplies or
-re-enforcements, it was that the queen was already sickening to her
-death, broken down and worn out by her constant and enormous exertions.
-
-But with all her aptitude for military organization, Isabella had no
-love for war. Her first campaign was undertaken to make good her
-pretensions to the crown. The extermination of the Moslems was a matter
-of religious feeling and patriotic pride, rather than an object of
-military glory; but she refused to pursue her conquest across the
-Straits of Gibraltar. The expeditions to Italy were a part of
-Ferdinand’s diplomacy, though the honor of victory must be shared
-between Isabella and her Great Captain. But the queen’s ambition lay not
-in conquest abroad. On the contrary, as soon as the last province in
-Spain had been delivered from the foreign yoke of the Moor, she turned
-her attention to the peaceful development of the kingdom; and,
-unlettered warrior as she was, she bestowed her royal patronage upon
-students and studies, rather than upon the knights and nobles who had
-fought her battles before Granada.
-
-The old foundations of the Universities, the new art of printing,
-scholarship, music, architecture found in her a generous patron, not so
-much from predilection as from policy. Men of letters and men of
-learning were welcomed at her court, not only from every part of Spain,
-but from every part of Europe. For herself she had little appreciation
-of literature. She neither knew nor cared what influence her beloved
-Inquisition would have upon science. But as long as the queen lived,
-learning was honored in Spain.
-
-In this, as in all other things, her judgment of men was unerring. The
-queen who made Gonsalvo the commander-in-chief of her armies, and
-Ximenez the president of her council, who selected Torquemada as her
-grand inquisitor, and Talavera as her archbishop of Granada, made no
-mistake when she invited Peter Martyr to instruct her son in polite
-letters, and commissioned Lebrija to compose the first Castilian Grammar
-for the use of her court.
-
-Her beauty of face and form are familiar. Yet vanity was unknown to her
-nature. Simple and abstemious in her daily life, and despising pomp for
-its own sake, no one could make a braver show on fitting occasions; and
-the richness of her apparel, the glory of her jewels, and the noble
-dignity of her presence, have been celebrated by subjects and strangers.
-
-At the death of Isabella, Ferdinand, in accordance with the provisions
-of her will, caused his daughter, Joanna, to be proclaimed queen and
-himself regent. Philip, archduke of Austria, the husband of Joanna,
-having disputed the rights of his father-in-law and threatened an appeal
-to arms, the latter in disgust, with the view of again separating the
-crowns of Aragon and Castile, entered into negotiations with Louis XII.,
-married Germaine de Foix, the niece of Louis (1505), and shortly
-afterward resigned the regency of Castile. On the death of Philip, in
-1506, he resumed the administration, though not without opposition, and
-retained it till his death. In 1508 he joined the League of Cambray for
-the partition of Venice, and thus without any trouble became master of
-five important Neapolitan cities.
-
-In the following year (1509) the African expedition of Cardinal Ximenez
-was undertaken, which resulted in the conquest of Oran. In 1511
-Ferdinand joined Venice and Pope Julius II. in a “holy league” for the
-expulsion of the French from Italy. This gave a pretext for invading
-Navarre, which had entered into alliance with France, and been laid
-under Papal interdict in consequence. Aided by his son-in-law Henry
-VIII. of England, who sent a squadron under the Marquis of Dorset to
-co-operate in the descent on Guienne, Ferdinand became master of Navarre
-in 1513; and on June 15, 1515, by a solemn act in Cortes held at Burgos,
-he incorporated it with the kingdom of Castile.
-
-The League of Cambray, which was signed on the 10th of December, 1508,
-between Louis XII., the Emperor Maximilian, and Ferdinand of Aragon, at
-the instance of the warlike Pope Julius II., was nominally directed
-against the Turks, but was in reality a coalition for the destruction
-and partition among the confiscators of the rich State of Venice. If
-anything was wanted to make this league of public plunderers more
-corrupt and more odious than it would under any circumstances have been,
-it was that the kings of France and of Aragon, in order to secure the
-adhesion of the Medicis, sacrificed their faithful allies, the Pisans,
-after solemn assurances of protection and support, and actually sold
-that ancient city to the Florentines, their hereditary enemies, for a
-hundred thousand ducats.
-
-But all their bad faith and covetousness was displayed in vain. The
-perfidious leaguers could not even trust one another; and the success of
-the French arms at Agnadel, in May, 1509, so seriously alarmed both
-Julius and Ferdinand that a second treaty was concluded in October,
-1511, when the Pope and the King of Aragon invited the Venetian
-Republic, for whose destruction they had leagued themselves together
-with Louis XII. not three years before, to assist them in driving the
-French out of Italy.
-
-Of the consummate skill with which Ferdinand, from the middle of 1509 to
-the end of 1511, played off his allies and rivals one against the other,
-until he had accomplished the central object of his diplomacy in the
-great Confederation against Louis XII., we may read in the history of
-France and of Italy, of England and of Germany, rather than in the
-Chronicles of Aragon. For King Ferdinand pulled the strings that moved
-the puppets, while he remained wellnigh hidden himself. But by the end
-of 1511 the showman was compelled to make his own appearance upon the
-stage of European warfare; and Ferdinand was ever less successful as an
-actor than as an impresario. His policy for the past two years had been
-the formation of a league against his dearly-beloved uncle-in-law, Louis
-XII., by the aid of his dearly-beloved son-in-law, Henry VIII. Queen
-Katharine, who had already played the part of embassador to her English
-father-in-law, was to make use of her influence over her English
-husband; and if the queen should refuse to advise King Henry to go to
-war with France, her confessor was to tell her that she was bound as a
-good Christian to do so.
-
-To coerce the confessor, Ferdinand applied to the Pope; and to control
-the Pope, he betrayed to him, in secret, the whole scheme of King Louis
-XII. as regarded the plunder of the States of the Church. It is easy to
-understand what an effect the communication of the French king’s plans
-of spoliation produced upon the excitable and irascible Julius. When he
-had learned that he was not only to be robbed of his temporalities, but
-that he was to be deposed and imprisoned in case he should prove
-spiritually intractable, he hastened, in spite of his age and his
-infirmities, to traverse the snow-covered mountains, that he might meet
-his enemy in the field.
-
-The King of Aragon was a diplomatist who left nothing to chance. He
-trusted no man. And if no man trusted him, he never deceived himself by
-supposing that any one was simple enough to do so. No detail, however
-trifling, was neglected by him in his negotiations. No contingency,
-however remote, was left out of sight in his intrigues. And however
-little we may respect his character, which was perhaps not much worse
-than that of some of his rivals, we cannot refuse to admire his
-transcendent skill, his infinite perseverance, his forethought, and his
-keen appreciation of every shade of political development. A little
-honesty would have made him a great man, a little generosity would have
-made him a great king. His policy, moreover, toward the close of his
-life, is at least worthy of an admiration which has rarely been extended
-to it. It was a policy which embraced all Europe in its scope; and
-although it had no direct relation to Spain or the Spanish people, it
-would be ill to conclude even a brief survey of the history of Spain
-without referring to the imperial dreams of the great Spaniard, first of
-modern diplomatists, and of his early endeavors to solve more than one
-of those questions that still embarrass the foreign policy of modern
-States: the establishment of a kingdom of Italy; the alliance between
-Italy and Germany, to withstand a dreaded power beyond the Danube and
-the Carpathians; the entanglement of England in a central European
-league; and the treatment of the Pope of Rome.
-
-The Turks, the medieval bugbear in the East--for the Middle Ages had
-also their Eastern Question--were at this time rapidly encroaching upon
-Christian Europe; and it was obviously desirable to form a powerful
-empire, as a bulwark of Christendom, on the banks of the Danube. The
-opportunity of founding a great empire in central Europe actually
-existed. Ladislaus II., king of Bohemia and of Hungary, had only one
-son, Louis, who was of so delicate a constitution that no issue could be
-expected of his marriage. In case he should die without children, his
-sister, the Princess Anne, was the heiress of both his kingdoms; and if
-her father could be persuaded to marry her to the heir of the Austrian
-principalities, Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary, thus united with the
-heritage of the Hapsburgs, would form by no means a contemptible State,
-which might itself be but the nucleus of a greater and more ambitious
-empire.
-
-Naples, which had so lately been added to the Spanish dominions, was
-still exposed to the attacks of the French, who claimed one-half, and
-were always ready to appropriate to themselves the whole of the kingdom.
-Naples was separated from France, indeed, by a considerable extent of
-territory in Italy; but the smaller Italian States were too weak to
-render any serious resistance, and too fickle to be counted upon as
-friends or as foes by any Spanish sovereign. The best way to render
-Naples secure was, in the eyes of Ferdinand, the foundation of a great
-kingdom in northern Italy, powerful enough to prevent the French from
-marching their armies to the south. The formation of such a kingdom
-moreover would have greatly facilitated a peaceful division of the great
-Austro-Spanish inheritance between Prince Charles and his brother, the
-Infante Ferdinand.
-
-If Charles could be provided not only with the kingdom of Spain, but
-with the possessions of Maximilian and Ladislaus and the Princess Anne,
-and the empire of central Europe, his younger brother Ferdinand might
-content himself with a kingdom to be made up of all the States of Italy,
-protected against the encroachments of France by Spanish infantry and
-German landsknechts, and ready to drive the Turk out of the
-Mediterranean in support of the Christian empire on the Danube.
-
-The kingdom of Italy, thus designed for his younger grandson by the
-far-seeing Ferdinand of Aragon, was to consist of Genoa, Pavia, Milan,
-and the Venetian territories on the mainland. The country of the Tyrol,
-being the most southern of the Austrian dominions, could, without
-sensibly weakening the projected empire, be separated from it and added
-to the new kingdom in Italy. Thus stretching from the Mediterranean to
-the Adriatic, and from the Gulf of Spezia to the Lake of Constance, this
-sixteenth century kingdom of Italy, with the whole power of the Holy
-Roman Empire to support it, would have been a splendid endowment for a
-younger son of the greatest family on earth. There was also a reasonable
-prospect that it might afterward be still further enlarged by the
-addition of Naples, and the smaller Italian States would easily have
-fallen a prey to their powerful neighbor. But in addition to all this,
-Ferdinand thought that he would render a notable service to the Catholic
-religion and to the peace of Europe if the Church were thoroughly
-reformed. What Rome herself has lost by Ferdinand’s failure it is not
-given even to the Infallible to know. What the king’s reforms were to
-be, we can only shrewdly surmise; and although they would most assuredly
-not have been Protestant, they would with equal certainty have been by
-no means palatable to the Vatican. For it is reasonably probable that if
-either Louis XII. or Ferdinand the Catholic had been permitted to carry
-out their designs, the Pope of Rome would have found himself deprived of
-his temporal power, and Garibaldi, nay, perchance Luther, would have
-been forestalled. It was the reforms of Ximenez that to a large extent
-prevented Luther in Spain. The reforms of Ferdinand might possibly have
-prevented him in Italy.
-
-It was in 1516 that Ferdinand died. Seven years previous Queen Germaine
-had been delivered of a son, who received from his parents the name of
-John. But the curse that lay upon the children of Ferdinand was not yet
-spent; and the rival of Charles V., the heir of Aragon, Sardinia,
-Naples, and Sicily, was permitted to gladden the envious heart of his
-father by but a few hours of life. As years passed on there seemed
-little chance of any further issue of the King and Queen of Aragon. The
-unity of Spain at length appeared to be secure. But the ambition of
-Ferdinand was even surpassed by his jealousy. Childless, vindictive, and
-obstinate, he chafed at the ill-success of his personal schemes; and
-rather than suffer the crown of united Spain to pass over to his
-daughter’s son and heir, he sought, at the hands of some medical
-impostor, the powers that were denied to his old age. The drug that was
-to have renewed his youth destroyed his constitution, and his death was
-the direct result of one of the least creditable of the many
-developments of his jealousy, his obstinacy, and his selfishness.
-
-At length came the inevitable end; and at the wretched hamlet of
-Madrigalejo, near Guadalupe, in the mountains of Estremadura, on the 23d
-of January of the new year 1516, Ferdinand died; and Spain was at length
-a United Kingdom.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MODERN SPAIN
-
-THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG--PHILIP II.--DEFEAT OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA--A
-BOURBON AMONG THEM--THE PENINSULAR WAR--ALFONSO XIII.
-
-
-With the death of Ferdinand begins the period of uninterrupted Hapsburg
-rule in Spain, which lasted for nearly two centuries. In the course of
-this period, the monarchy obtained absolute authority, and Spain, after
-rising for a time to be the foremost State in Europe, sank to the
-position of a second-rate power, from which it has never since emerged.
-Aragon and Castile were distinct kingdoms, and the former was again
-divided into the three provinces of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia,
-each of which had its own Cortes, its own privileges, and the most
-warmly-cherished traditions of independence. The foreign possessions of
-the two crowns were a source of weakness rather than of strength. France
-stood ready at the earliest opportunity to contest the possession of
-Navarre with Castile, and that of Naples with Aragon.
-
-The difficulties of domestic government were increased by the fact that
-the prospective ruler was a youthful foreigner, who had never visited
-Spain, and who was completely ignorant of the customs and even of the
-language of the country. Charles--the son of Philip, archduke of
-Austria, and of Jane, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella--had been born
-and educated in the Netherlands, of which he had been nominal ruler ever
-since the death of his father in 1506. All his friends and advisers were
-Flemings, who cared nothing for Spanish interests, and had already
-acquired an evil reputation for selfish greed. The first symptom of
-discontent in Spain was excited by Charles’s demand to be recognized as
-king, in utter disregard of his mother. In Aragon the demand was
-unhesitatingly refused, but in Castile the vigorous measures of the
-famous Cardinal Ximenez secured Charles’s proclamation.
-
-The regent, however, had great difficulties to face. The nobles,
-delighted to be rid of the strong government of Ferdinand, wished to
-utilize the opportunity to regain the privileges and independence they
-had lost. In this crisis the loyal devotion of Ximenez saved the
-monarchy. Throwing himself upon the support of the citizen class, he
-organized a militia which overawed the nobles and maintained order. A
-French invasion of Navarre was repulsed, and to avoid any danger from
-the discontent of the inhabitants, all the fortresses of the province,
-with the single exception of Pamplona, were dismantled. These
-distinguished services were rewarded with more than royal ingratitude by
-Charles, who came to Spain in 1517, and who allowed the aged cardinal to
-die on November 8th, without even granting him an interview.
-
-Charles’s enormous inheritance was increased by the successes of Cortes
-in Mexico and of Pizarro in Peru, by his own annexation of the Milanese,
-and by his conquests in northern Africa.
-
-The glory of Spain was then at its apogee. After his death, which
-occurred in 1558, the decline set in. From this time also the House of
-Hapsburg became divided into its contemporary branches.
-
-Charles was succeeded by Philip II., his only legitimate son. The
-administration of the latter, while successful at home, was a failure
-abroad. During his reign a claim to the throne of Portugal was
-successfully asserted, and the unity of the Peninsula was completed.
-Moreover, colonial possessions were greatly extended. Yet his religious
-intolerance excited the revolt of the Netherlands, which resulted in a
-loss of the seven northern provinces. His effort to obtain a
-preponderant influence over France was dexterously foiled by the
-succession and triumph of Henry IV. But his great and historical defeat
-was that which he experienced with the Armada.
-
-Besides the Spanish crown, Philip succeeded to the kingdoms of Naples
-and Sicily, the Duchy of Milan, Franche-Comte, and the Netherlands. In
-Africa he possessed Tunis, Oran, the Cape Verd, and the Canary Islands;
-and in Asia, the Philippine and Sunda Islands, and a part of the
-Moluccas. Beyond the Atlantic he was lord of the most splendid portions
-of the New World. The empires of Peru and Mexico, New Spain, and Chili,
-with their abundant mines of the precious metals, Hispaniola and Cuba,
-and many other of the American islands, were provinces of the sovereign
-of Spain.
-
-Philip had also the advantage of finding himself at the head of a large
-standing army in a perfect state of discipline and equipment, in an age
-when, except some few insignificant corps, standing armies were unknown
-to Christendom. The renown of the Spanish troops was justly high, and
-the infantry in particular was considered the best in the world. His
-fleet, also, was far more numerous, and better appointed, than that of
-any other European power; and both his soldiers and his sailors had the
-confidence in themselves and their commanders which a long career of
-successful warfare alone can create.
-
-One nation only had been his active, his persevering, and his successful
-foe. England had encouraged his revolted subjects in Flanders against
-him, and given them the aid in men and money without which they must
-soon have been humbled in the dust. English ships had plundered his
-colonies; had defied his supremacy in the New World, as well as the Old;
-they had inflicted ignominious defeats on his squadrons; they had
-captured his cities, and burned his arsenals on the very coasts of
-Spain. The English had made Philip himself the object of personal
-insult. He was held up to ridicule in their stage plays and masks, and
-these scoffs at the man had (as is not unusual in such cases) excited
-the anger of the absolute king, even more vehemently than the injuries
-inflicted on his power. Personal as well as political revenge urged him
-to attack England. Were she once subdued, the Dutch must submit; France
-could not cope with him, the empire would not oppose him; and universal
-dominion seemed sure to be the result of the conquest of that malignant
-island.
-
-For some time the destination of an enormous armament which he had long
-been preparing was not publicly announced. Only Philip himself, the Pope
-Sixtus, the Duke of Guise, and Philip’s favorite minister, Mendoza, at
-first knew its real object. Rumors were sedulously spread that it was
-designed to proceed to the Indies to realize vast projects of distant
-conquest. Sometimes hints were dropped by Philip’s embassadors in
-foreign courts that their master had resolved on a decisive effort to
-crush his rebels in the Low Countries. But Elizabeth and her statesmen
-could not view the gathering of such a storm without feeling the
-probability of its bursting on their own shores. As early as the spring
-of 1587, Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to cruise off the Tagus. Drake
-sailed into the Bay of Cadiz and the Lisbon Roads, and burned much
-shipping and military stores, causing thereby an important delay in the
-progress of the Spanish preparations. Drake called this “Singeing the
-king of Spain’s beard.” Elizabeth also increased her succors of troops
-to the Netherlanders, to prevent the Prince of Parma from overwhelming
-them, and from thence being at full leisure to employ his army against
-her dominions.
-
-Philip had an ally in France who was far more powerful than the French
-king. This was the Duke of Guise, the chief of the League, and the idol
-of the fanatic partisans of the Romish faith. Philip prevailed on Guise
-openly to take up arms against Henry III. (who was reviled by the
-Leaguers as a traitor to the true Church, and a secret friend to the
-Huguenots); and thus prevent the French king from interfering in favor
-of Queen Elizabeth. “With this object, the commander, Juan Iniguez
-Moreo, was dispatched by him in the early part of April to the Duke of
-Guise at Soissons. He met with complete success. He offered the Duke of
-Guise, as soon as he took the field against Henry III., three hundred
-thousand crowns, six thousand infantry, and twelve hundred pikemen, on
-behalf of the king, his master, who would, in addition, withdraw his
-embassador from the court of France, and accredit an envoy to the
-Catholic party. A treaty was concluded on these conditions, and the Duke
-of Guise entered Paris, where he was expected by the Leaguers, and
-whence he expelled Henry III. on the 12th of May, by the insurrection of
-the barricades. A fortnight after this insurrection, which reduced Henry
-III. to impotence, and, to use the language of the Prince of Parma, did
-not even ‘permit him to assist the Queen of England with his tears, as
-he needed them all to weep over his own misfortunes,’ the Spanish fleet
-left the Tagus and sailed toward the British isles.”
-
-Meanwhile in England, from the sovereign on the throne to the peasant in
-the cottage, all hearts and hands made ready to meet the imminent deadly
-peril. A camp was formed at Tilbury; and there Elizabeth rode through
-the ranks, encouraging her captains and her soldiers by her presence and
-her words.
-
-The ships of the royal navy at this time amounted to no more than
-thirty-six; but the most serviceable merchant vessels were collected
-from all the ports of the country; and the citizens of London, Bristol,
-and the other great seats of commerce, showed as liberal a zeal in
-equipping and manning vessels as the nobility and gentry displayed in
-mustering forces by land. The seafaring population of the coast, of
-every rank and station, was animated by the same ready spirit; and the
-whole number of seamen who came forward to man the English fleet was
-17,472. The number of the ships that were collected was 191; and the
-total amount of their tonnage 31,985. There was one ship in the fleet
-(the “Triumph”) of 1,100 tons, one of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800
-each, three of 600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 250,
-twenty of 200, and the residue of inferior burden. Application was made
-to the Dutch for assistance: and, as Stowe expresses it, “The Hollanders
-came roundly in, with threescore sail, brave ships of war, fierce and
-full of spleen, not so much for England’s aid, as in just occasion for
-their own defense; these men foreseeing the greatness of the danger that
-might ensue, if the Spaniards should chance to win the day and get the
-mastery over them; in due regard whereof their manly courage was
-inferior to none.”
-
-The equipment of the Spanish forces consisted of 130 ships (besides
-caravels), 3,165 cannon, 8,050 sailors, 2,088 galley-slaves, 18,973
-soldiers, 1,382 noblemen, gentlemen, and attendants, 150 monks, with
-Martin Alarco, vicar of the Inquisition--the whole under the command of
-the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
-
-While this huge armada was making ready in the southern ports of the
-Spanish dominions, the Prince of Parma, with almost incredible toil and
-skill, collected a squadron of warships at Dunkirk, and his flotilla of
-other ships and of flat-bottomed boats for the transport to England of
-the picked troops, which were designed to be the main instruments in
-subduing England. Thousands of workmen were employed, night and day, in
-the construction of these vessels, in the ports of Flanders and Brabant.
-
-One hundred of the kind called hendes, built at Antwerp, Bruges, and
-Ghent, and laden with provisions and ammunition, together with sixty
-flat-bottomed boats, each capable of carrying thirty horses, were
-brought, by means of canals and fosses, dug expressly for the purpose,
-to Nieuport and Dunkirk. One hundred smaller vessels were equipped at
-the former place, and thirty-two at Dunkirk, provided with twenty
-thousand empty barrels, and with materials for making pontoons, for
-stopping up the harbors, and raising forts and intrenchments. The army
-which these vessels were designed to convey to England amounted to
-thirty thousand strong, besides a body of four thousand cavalry,
-stationed at Courtroi, composed chiefly of the ablest veterans of
-Europe; invigorated by rest (the siege of Sluys having been the only
-enterprise in which they were employed during the last campaign), and
-excited by the hopes of plunder and the expectation of certain conquest.
-
-Philip had been advised by the deserter, Sir William Stanley, not to
-attack England in the first instance, but first to effect a landing and
-secure a strong position in Ireland; his admiral, Santa Cruz, had
-recommended him to make sure, in the first instance, of some large
-harbor on the coast of Holland or Zealand, where the Armada, having
-entered the Channel, might find shelter in case of storm, and whence it
-could sail without difficulty for England; but Philip rejected both
-these counsels, and directed that England itself should be made the
-immediate object of attack; and on the 20th of May the Armada left the
-Tagus, in the pomp and pride of supposed invincibility, and amid the
-shouts of thousands, who believed that England was already conquered.
-But steering to the northward, and before it was clear of the coast of
-Spain, the Armada was assailed by a violent storm, and driven back with
-considerable damage to the ports of Biscay and Galicia. It had, however,
-sustained its heaviest loss before it left the Tagus, in the death of
-the veteran admiral Santa Cruz, who had been destined to guide it
-against England.
-
-This experienced sailor, notwithstanding his diligence and success, had
-been unable to keep pace with the impatient ardor of his master. Philip
-II. had reproached him with his dilatoriness, and had said with
-ungrateful harshness, “You make an ill return for all my kindness to
-you.” These words cut the veteran’s heart, and proved fatal to Santa
-Cruz. Overwhelmed with fatigue and grief, he sickened and died. Philip
-II. had replaced him by Alonzo Perez de Gusman, duke of Medina Sidonia,
-one of the most powerful of the Spanish grandees, but wholly unqualified
-to command such an expedition. He had, however, as his lieutenants, two
-seamen of proved skill and bravery, Juan de Martinez Recalde of Biscay,
-and Miguel Orquendo of Guipuzcoa.
-
-On the 12th of July the Armada, having completely refitted, sailed again
-for the Channel, and reached it without obstruction or observation by
-the English.
-
-The design of the Spaniards was, that the Armada should give them, at
-least for a time, the command of the sea, and that it should join the
-squadron which Parma had collected off Calais. Then, escorted by an
-overpowering naval force, Parma and his army were to embark in their
-flotilla, and cross the sea to England, where they were to be landed,
-together with the troops which the Armada brought from the ports of
-Spain. The scheme was not dissimilar to one formed against England a
-little more than two centuries afterward.
-
-The orders of King Philip to the Duke of Medina Sidonia were, that he
-should, on entering the Channel, keep near the French coast, and, if
-attacked by the English ships, avoid an action, and steer on to Calais
-Roads, where the Prince of Parma’s squadron was to join him. The hope of
-surprising and destroying the English fleet in Plymouth led the Spanish
-admiral to deviate from these orders, and to stand across to the English
-shore; but, on finding that Lord Howard was coming out to meet him, he
-resumed the original plan, and determined to bend his way steadily
-toward Calais and Dunkirk, and to keep merely on the defensive against
-such squadrons of the English as might come up with him.
-
-It was on Saturday, the 20th of July, that Lord Effingham came in sight
-of his formidable adversaries. The Armada was drawn up in form of a
-crescent, which from horn to horn measured some seven miles. There was a
-southwest wind; and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The
-English let them pass by; and then, following in the rear, commenced an
-attack on them. A running fight now took place, in which some of the
-best ships of the Spaniards were captured; many more received heavy
-damage; while the English vessels, which took care not to close with
-their huge antagonists, but availed themselves of their superior
-celerity in tacking and maneuvering, suffered little comparative loss.
-
-The Spanish admiral showed great judgment and firmness in following the
-line of conduct that had been traced out for him; and on the 27th of
-July he brought his fleet unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor
-in Calais Roads. The Armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships
-ranged outside, “like strong castles fearing no assault; the lesser
-placed in the middle ward.” The English admiral could not attack them in
-their position without great disadvantage, but on the night of the 29th
-he sent eight fire-ships among them, with almost equal effect to that of
-the fire-ships which the Greeks so often employed against the Turkish
-fleets in their war of independence. The Spaniards cut their cables and
-put to sea in confusion. One of the largest galeasses ran foul of
-another vessel and was stranded. The rest of the fleet was scattered
-about on the Flemish coast, and when the morning broke, it was with
-difficulty and delay that they obeyed their admiral’s signal to range
-themselves round him near Gravelines. Now was the golden opportunity for
-the English to assail them, and prevent them from ever letting loose
-Parma’s flotilla against England; and nobly was that opportunity used.
-Drake and Fenner were the first English captains who attacked the
-unwieldy leviathans: then came Fenton, Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor,
-and then the lord-admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield.
-The Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close together, and
-were driven by the English past Dunkirk, and far away from the Prince of
-Parma, who, in watching their defeat from the coast, must, as Drake
-expressed it, have chafed like a bear robbed of her whelps. This was
-indeed the last and the decisive battle between the two fleets.
-
-Many of the largest Spanish ships were sunk or captured in the action of
-this day. And at length the Spanish admiral, despairing of success,
-fled northward with a southerly wind, in the hope of rounding Scotland,
-and so returning to Spain without a further encounter with the English
-fleet. Lord Effingham left a squadron to continue the blockade of the
-Prince of Parma’s armament; but that wise general soon withdrew his
-troops to more promising fields of action. Meanwhile the lord-admiral
-himself and Drake chased the vincible Armada, as it was now termed, for
-some distance northward; and then, when it seemed to bend away from the
-Scotch coast toward Norway, it was thought best, in the words of Drake,
-“to leave them to those boisterous and uncouth northern seas.”
-
-The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards sustained in their
-flight round Scotland and Ireland are well known. Of their whole Armada
-only fifty-three shattered vessels brought back their beaten and wasted
-crews to the Spanish coast which they had quitted in such pageantry and
-pride.
-
-At the death of Philip, which occurred on September 13, 1598, he left to
-his son and successor, Philip III., an empire nominally undiminished,
-but unwieldy and internally exhausted. Resources had been squandered.
-The attention of the masses had been turned from industry to war. The
-soldiery once regarded as invincible had lost their prestige in the
-Netherland swamps. Enormous taxes, from which nobles and clergy were
-exempt, were multiplied on the people. That being insufficient, Philip
-III. proved his orthodoxy by completing the work. In 1609 the Moors, or
-Moriscoes, as they were called, were ordered to quit the Peninsula
-within three days, and the penalty of death was decreed against all who
-failed to obey, and against any Christians who should shelter the
-recalcitrants.
-
-The edict was obeyed, but it was the ruin of Spain. The Moriscoes were
-the backbone of the industrial population, not only in trade and
-manufactures, but also in agriculture. The haughty and indolent
-Spaniards had willingly left what they considered degrading employments
-to their inferiors. The Moors had introduced into Spain the cultivation
-of sugar, cotton, rice and silk. They had established a system of
-irrigation which had given fertility to the soil. The province of
-Valencia in their hands had become a model of agriculture to the rest of
-Europe. In manufactures and commerce they had shown equal superiority to
-the Christian inhabitants, and many of the products of Spain were
-eagerly sought for by other countries. All these advantages were
-sacrificed to an insane desire for religious unity.
-
-The resources of Spain, already exhausted, never recovered from this
-terrible blow. Philip III. died in March, 1621. His reign had not been
-glorious or advantageous to Spain, but it contrasts favorably with those
-of his successors. Spanish literature and art, which had received a
-great impulse from the intercourse with foreign countries under previous
-rulers, reached their zenith during his lifetime. Three writers have
-obtained European fame--Cervantes, who produced the immortal “Don
-Quixote” between 1605 and 1613, and two of the most fertile of romantic
-dramatists, Lope de Vega and Calderon. In the domain of art, Spain
-produced two of the greatest masters of the seventeenth century,
-Velasquez and Murillo.
-
-Philip II. was succeeded by Philip III. After him came Philip IV. and
-then Charles II. Of these monarchs Mignet said: “Philip II. was merely a
-king. Philip III. and Philip IV. were not kings, and Charles II. was not
-even a man.” The death of the latter precipitated the War of the
-Succession, the military operations of which were rendered famous by the
-military exploits of Eugene and Marlborough. But this is not the place
-to recite them. The chief scenes of hostilities were the Netherlands,
-Germany and Italy, and their narration belongs more properly to the
-histories of these lands. Suffice it to say that by the Treaty of
-Utrecht war was concluded in 1711, and Philip V., a Bourbon, second
-grandson of Louis XIV., was, in accordance with the will of Charles II.,
-acknowledged King of Spain. By the same treaty England gained Gibraltar,
-while the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples and Sardinia were ceded to
-Austria.
-
-With the accession of a Bourbon, Spain entered into a new period of
-history, during which it once more played a part in the politics of
-Europe, as also in its wars; those, for instance, of the Polish and
-Austrian successions--the country meanwhile being additionally embroiled
-with England.
-
-Philip V. was succeeded by Ferdinand VI., and the latter by Charles
-III., whose death, together with the accession of Charles IV., were
-contemporary with the French Revolution. The execution of Louis XVI.
-made a profound impression on a country where loyalty was a
-superstition. Charles IV. was roused to demand vengeance for the insult
-to his family. Godoy, the Prime Minister, could but follow the national
-impulse; and Spain became a member of the first coalition against
-France. But the two campaigns which ensued provoked the contempt of
-Europe. They form a catalogue of defeats. Under the circumstances it is
-no wonder that Spain followed the example of Prussia and concluded a
-treaty of peace.
-
-The next event of importance was Napoleon’s famous coup de main--the
-seizure of the Spanish royal family at Bayonne--the jugglery which he
-performed with the crown, its transference by him from Ferdinand VII.
-(son of Charles IV.) to Joseph Bonaparte, and the revolt of the South
-American colonies which that act produced.
-
-Then came the restoration of Spanish independence through England’s aid;
-Wellington’s famous campaign; the battles of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos;
-the entry into Madrid; the retreat of Joseph to Valencia; Napoleon’s
-crushing defeat at Leipzig, and Ferdinand’s return from captivity at
-Valençay.
-
-The circumstances through which these last-mentioned events were induced
-or precipitated, and which are collectively known as the Peninsular War,
-originated at the moment when Napoleon was practically master of Europe.
-Its whole face was changed. Prussia was occupied by French troops.
-Holland was changed into a monarchy by a simple decree of the French
-emperor, and its crown bestowed on his brother Louis. Another brother,
-Jerome, became King of Westphalia, a new realm built up out of the
-electorates of Hesse-Cassel and Hanover. A third brother, Joseph, was
-made King of Naples; while the rest of Italy, and even Rome itself, was
-annexed to the French empire. It was the hope of effectually crushing
-the world-power of Britain which drove him to his worst aggression, the
-aggression upon Spain.
-
-Napoleon acted with his usual subtlety. In October, 1807, France and
-Spain agreed to divide Portugal between them; and on the advance of
-their forces the reigning House of Braganza fled helplessly from Lisbon
-to a refuge in Brazil. But the seizure of Portugal was only a prelude to
-the seizure of Spain. Charles IV., whom a riot in his capital drove at
-this moment to abdication, and his son, Ferdinand VII., were drawn to
-Bayonne in May, 1808, and forced to resign their claims to the Spanish
-crown; while a French army entered Madrid and proclaimed Napoleon’s
-brother Joseph king of Spain.
-
-This high-handed act of aggression was hardly completed when Spain rose
-as one man against the stranger; and desperate as the effort of its
-people seemed, the news of the rising was welcomed throughout England
-with a burst of enthusiastic joy. “Hitherto,” cried Sheridan, a leader
-of the Whig opposition, “Bonaparte has contended with princes without
-dignity, numbers without ardor, or peoples without patriotism. He has
-yet to learn what it is to combat a people who are animated by one
-spirit against him.” Tory and Whig alike held that “never had so happy
-an opportunity existed in Britain to strike a bold stroke for the rescue
-of the world”; and Canning at once resolved to change the system of
-desultory descents on colonies and sugar islands for a vigorous warfare
-in the Peninsula.
-
-The furious and bloody struggle which ensued found its climax at
-Vittoria, but it would be difficult to find in the whole history of war
-a more thrilling chapter than that which tells of the six great
-campaigns of which the war itself was composed.
-
-The Peninsular War was perhaps the least selfish conflict ever waged. It
-was not a war of aggrandizement or of conquest. It was fought to deliver
-Europe from the despotism of Napoleon. At its close the fleets of Great
-Britain rode triumphant, and in the Peninsula between 1808-14 her land
-forces fought and won nineteen pitched battles, made or sustained ten
-fierce and bloody sieges, took four great fortresses, twice expelled the
-French from Portugal and once from Spain. Great Britain expended in
-these campaigns more than one hundred million pounds sterling on her own
-troops, besides subsidizing the forces of Spain and Portugal. This
-“nation of shopkeepers” proved that when kindled to action it could wage
-war on a scale and in a fashion that might have moved the wonder of
-Alexander or of Cæsar, and from motives too lofty for either Cæsar or
-Alexander so much as to comprehend. It is worth while to tell afresh the
-story of some of the more picturesque incidents in that great strife.
-
-On April 6, 1812, Badajos was stormed by Wellington; and the story forms
-one of the most tragical and splendid incidents in the military history
-of the world. Of “the night of horrors at Badajos,” Napier says,
-“posterity can scarcely be expected to credit the tale.” No tale,
-however, is better authenticated, or, as an example of what disciplined
-human valor is capable of achieving, better deserves to be told.
-Wellington was preparing for his great forward movement into Spain, the
-campaign which led to Salamanca, the battle in which “forty thousand
-Frenchmen were beaten in forty minutes.” As a preliminary he had to
-capture, under the vigilant eyes of Soult and Marmont, the two great
-border fortresses, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos. He had, to use Napier’s
-phrase, “jumped with both feet” on the first-named fortress, and
-captured it in twelve days with a loss of twelve hundred men and ninety
-officers.
-
-But Badajos was a still harder task. The city stands on a rocky ridge
-which forms the last spur of the Toledo range, and is of extraordinary
-strength. The river Rivillas falls almost at right angles into the
-Guadiana, and in the angle formed by their junction stands Badajos, oval
-in shape, girdled with elaborate defenses, with the Guadiana, five
-hundred yards wide, as its defense to the north, the Rivillas serving as
-a wet ditch to the west, and no less than five great fortified
-outposts--Saint Roque, Christoval, Picurina, Pardaleras, and a fortified
-bridge-head across the Guadiana--as the outer zone of its defenses.
-Twice the English had already assailed Badajos, but assailed it in vain.
-It was now held by a garrison five thousand strong, under a soldier,
-General Phillipson, with a real genius for defense, and the utmost art
-had been employed in adding to its defenses. On the other hand,
-Wellington had no means of transport and no battery train, and had to
-make all his preparations under the keen-eyed vigilance of the French.
-Perhaps the strangest collection of artillery ever employed in a great
-siege was that which Wellington collected from every available quarter
-and used at Badajos. Of the fifty-two pieces, some dated from the days
-of Philip II. and the Spanish Armada, some were cast in the reign of
-Philip III., others in that of John IV. of Portugal, who reigned in
-1640; there were 24-pounders of George II.’s day, and Russian naval
-guns; the bulk of the extraordinary medley being obsolete brass engines
-which required from seven to ten minutes to cool between each discharge.
-
-Wellington, however, was strong in his own warlike genius and in the
-quality of the troops he commanded. He employed eighteen thousand men in
-the siege, and it may well be doubted whether--if we put the question of
-equipment aside--a more perfect fighting instrument than the force under
-his orders ever existed. The men were veterans, but the officers on the
-whole were young, so there was steadiness in the ranks and fire in the
-leading. Hill and Graham covered the siege, Picton and Barnard, Kempt
-and Colville led the assaults. The trenches were held by the third,
-fourth, and fifth divisions, and by the famous light division. Of the
-latter it has been said that the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the
-Great, the Tenth Legion of Cæsar, the famous Spanish infantry of Alva,
-or the iron soldiers who followed Cortes to Mexico, did not exceed it in
-warlike quality. Wellington’s troops, too, had a personal grudge against
-Badajos, and had two defeats to avenge. Perhaps no siege in history, as
-a matter of fact, ever witnessed either more furious valor in the
-assault, or more of cool and skilled courage in the defense. The siege
-lasted exactly twenty days, and cost the besiegers five thousand men, or
-an average loss of two hundred and fifty per day. It was waged
-throughout in stormy weather, with the rivers steadily rising, and the
-tempests perpetually blowing; yet the thunder of the attack never paused
-for an instant.
-
-Wellington’s engineers attacked the city at the eastern end of the oval,
-where the Rivillas served it as a gigantic wet ditch; and the Picurina,
-a fortified hill, ringed by a ditch fourteen feet deep, a rampart
-sixteen feet high, and a zone of mines, acted as an outwork. Wellington,
-curiously enough, believed in night attacks, a sure proof of his faith
-in the quality of the men he commanded; and on the eighth night of the
-siege, at nine o’clock, five hundred men of the third division were
-suddenly flung on the Picurina. The fort broke into a ring of flame, by
-the light of which the dark figures of the stormers were seen leaping
-with fierce hardihood into the ditch and struggling madly up the
-ramparts, or tearing furiously at the palisades. But the defenses were
-strong, and the assailants fell literally in scores.
-
-Napier tells how “the axmen of the light division, compassing the fort
-like prowling wolves,” discovered the gate at the rear, and so broke
-into the fort. The engineer officer who led the attack declares that
-“the place would never have been taken had it not been for the coolness
-of these men” in absolutely walking round the fort to its rear,
-discovering the gate, and hewing it down under a tempest of bullets. The
-assault lasted an hour, and in that period, out of the five hundred men
-who attacked, no less than three hundred, with nineteen officers, were
-killed or wounded! Three men out of every five in the attacking force,
-that is, were disabled, and yet they won!
-
-There followed twelve days of furious industry, of trenches pushed
-tirelessly forward through mud and wet, and of cannonading that only
-ceased when the guns grew too hot to be used. Captain MacCarthy, of the
-Fiftieth Regiment, has left a curious little monograph on the siege,
-full of incidents, half tragic and half amusing, but which show the
-temper of Wellington’s troops. Thus he tells how an engineer officer,
-when marking out the ground for a breaching-battery very near the wall,
-which was always lined with French soldiers in eager search of human
-targets, “used to challenge them to prove the perfection of their
-shooting by lifting up the skirts of his coat in defiance several times
-in the course of his survey; driving in his stakes and measuring his
-distances with great deliberation, and concluding by an extra shake of
-his coat-tails and an ironical bow before he stepped under shelter!”
-
-On the night of April 6, Wellington determined to assault. No less than
-seven attacks were to be delivered. Two of them--on the bridge-head
-across the Guadiana and on the Pardaleras--were mere feints. But on the
-extreme right Picton with the third division was to cross the Rivillas
-and escalade the castle, whose walls rose, time-stained and grim, from
-eighteen to twenty-four feet high. Leith with the fifth division was to
-attack the opposite or western extremity of the town, the bastion of San
-Vincente, where the glacis was mined, the ditch deep, and the scarp
-thirty feet high. Against the actual breaches Colville and Andrew
-Barnard were to lead the light division and the fourth division, the
-former attacking the bastion of Santa Maria and the latter the Trinidad.
-The hour was fixed for ten o’clock, and the story of that night attack,
-as told in Napier’s immortal prose, is one of the great battle-pictures
-of literature; and any one who tries to tell the tale will find himself
-slipping insensibly into Napier’s cadences.
-
-The night was black; a strange silence lay on rampart and trench, broken
-from time to time by the deep voices of the sentinels that proclaimed
-all was well in Badajos. “Sentinelle garde à vous,” the cry of the
-sentinels, was translated by the British private as “All’s well in
-Badahoo!” A lighted carcass thrown from the castle discovered Picton’s
-men standing in ordered array, and compelled them to attack at once.
-MacCarthy, who acted as guide across the tangle of wet trenches and the
-narrow bridge that spanned the Rivillas, has left an amusing account of
-the scene. At one time Picton declared MacCarthy was leading them wrong,
-and, drawing his sword, swore he would cut him down. The column reached
-the trench, however, at the foot of the castle walls, and was instantly
-overwhelmed with the fire of the besieged. MacCarthy says we can only
-picture the scene by “supposing that all the stars, planets, and meteors
-of the firmament, with innumerable moons emitting smaller ones in their
-course, were descending on the heads of the besiegers.” MacCarthy
-himself, a typical and gallant Irishman, addressed his general with the
-exultant remark, “‘Tis a glorious night, sir--a glorious night!” and,
-rushing forward to the head of the stormers, shouted, “Up with the
-ladders!” The five ladders were raised, the troops swarmed up, an
-officer leading, but the first files were at once crushed by cannon
-fire, and the ladders slipped into the angle of the abutments. “Dreadful
-their fall,” records MacCarthy of the slaughtered stormers, “and
-appalling their appearance at daylight.” One ladder remained, and, a
-private soldier leading, the eager red-coated crowd swarmed up it. The
-brave fellow leading was shot as soon as his head appeared above the
-parapet; but the next man to him--again a private--leaped over the
-parapet, and was followed quickly by others, and this thin stream of
-desperate men climbed singly, and in the teeth of the flashing musketry,
-up that solitary ladder, and carried the castle.
-
-In the meanwhile the fourth and light divisions had flung themselves
-with cool and silent speed on the breaches. The storming party of each
-division leaped into the ditch. It was mined, the fuse was kindled, and
-the ditch, crowded with eager soldiery, became in a moment a sort of
-flaming crater, and the storming parties, five hundred strong, were in
-one fierce explosion dashed to pieces. In the light of that dreadful
-flame the whole scene became visible--the black ramparts, crowded with
-dark figures and glittering arms, on the one side; on the other, the red
-columns of the British, broad and deep, moving steadily forward like a
-stream of human lava. The light division stood at the brink of the
-smoking ditch for an instant, amazed at the sight. “Then,” says Napier,
-“with a shout that matched even the sound of the explosion,” they leaped
-into it and swarmed up to the breach. The fourth division came running
-up and descended with equal fury but the ditch opposite the Trinidad was
-filled with water; the head of the division leaped into it, and, as
-Napier puts it, “about one hundred of the fusiliers, the men of Albuera,
-perished there.” The breaches were impassable. Across the top of the
-great slope of broken wall glittered a fringe of sword-blades,
-sharp-pointed, keen-edged on both sides, fixed in ponderous beams
-chained together and set deep in the ruins. For ten feet in front the
-ascent was covered with loose planks, studded with sharp iron points.
-Behind the glittering edge of sword-blades stood the solid ranks of the
-French, each man supplied with three muskets, and their fire scourged
-the British ranks like a tempest.
-
-Hundreds had fallen, hundreds were still falling; but the British clung
-doggedly to the lower slopes, and every few minutes an officer would
-leap forward with a shout, a swarm of men would instantly follow him,
-and, like leaves blown by a whirlwind, they swept up the ascent. But
-under the incessant fire of the French, the assailants melted away. One
-private reached the sword-blades, and actually thrust his head beneath
-them till his brains were beaten out, so desperate was his resolve to
-get into Badajos. The breach, as Napier describes it, “yawning and
-glittering with steel, resembled the mouth of a huge dragon belching
-forth smoke and flame.” But for two hours, and until two thousand men
-had fallen, the stubborn British persisted in their attacks. Currie, of
-the 52d, a cool and most daring soldier, found a narrow ramp beyond the
-Santa Maria breach only half-ruined; he forced his way back through the
-tumult and carnage to where Wellington stood watching the scene,
-obtained an unbroken battalion from the reserve, and led it toward the
-broken ramp. But his men were caught in the whirling madness of the
-ditch and swallowed up in the tumult. Nicholas, of the engineers, and
-Shaw of the 43d, with some fifty soldiers, actually climbed into the
-Santa Maria bastion, and from thence tried to force their way into the
-breach. Every man was shot down except Shaw, who stood alone on the
-bastion. “With inexpressible coolness he looked at his watch, said it
-was too late to carry the breaches,” and then leaped down! The British
-could not penetrate the breach; but they would not retreat. They could
-only die where they stood. The buglers of the reserve were sent to the
-crest of the glacis to sound the retreat; the troops in the ditch would
-not believe the signal to be genuine, and struck their own buglers who
-attempted to repeat it. “Gathering in dark groups, and leaning on their
-muskets,” says Napier, “they looked up in sullen desperation at
-Trinidad, while the enemy, stepping out on the ramparts, and aiming
-their shots by the light of fire-balls, which they threw over, asked as
-their victims fell, ‘Why they did not come into Badajos.’”
-
-All this while, curiously enough, Picton was actually in Badajos, and
-held the castle securely, but made no attempt to clear the breach. On
-the extreme west of the town, however, at the bastion of San Vincente,
-the fifth division made an attack as desperate as that which was failing
-at the breaches. When the stormers actually reached the bastion, the
-Portuguese battalions, who formed part of the attack, dismayed by the
-tremendous fire which broke out on them, flung down their ladders and
-fled. The British, however, snatched the ladders up, forced the
-barrier, jumped into the ditch, and tried to climb the walls. These were
-thirty feet high, and the ladders were too short. A mine was sprung in
-the ditch under the soldiers’ feet; beams of wood, stones, broken
-wagons, and live shells were poured upon their heads from above. Showers
-of grape from the flank swept the ditch.
-
-The stubborn soldiers, however, discovered a low spot in the rampart,
-placed three ladders against it, and climbed with reckless valor. The
-first man was pushed up by his comrades; he, in turn, dragged others up,
-and the unconquerable British at length broke through and swept the
-bastion. The tumult still stormed and raged at the eastern breaches,
-where the men of the light and fourth division were dying sullenly, and
-the men of the fifth division marched at speed across the town to take
-the great eastern breach in the rear. The streets were empty, but the
-silent houses were bright with lamps. The men of the fifth pressed on;
-they captured mules carrying ammunition to the breaches, and the French,
-startled by the tramp of the fast-approaching column, and finding
-themselves taken in the rear, fled. The light and fourth divisions broke
-through the gap hitherto barred by flame and steel, and Badajos was won!
-
-In that dreadful night assault the English lost three thousand five
-hundred men. “Let it be considered,” says Napier, “that this frightful
-carnage took place in the space of less than a hundred yards
-square--that the slain died not all suddenly, nor by one manner of
-death--that some perished by steel, some by shot, some by water; that
-some were crushed and mangled by heavy weights, some trampled upon,
-some dashed to atoms by the fiery explosions--that for hours this
-destruction was endured without shrinking, and the town was won at last.
-Let these things be considered, and it must be admitted a British army
-bears with it an awful power. And false would it be to say the French
-were feeble men. The garrison stood and fought manfully and with good
-discipline, behaving worthily. Shame there was none on any side. Yet who
-shall do justice to the bravery of the British soldiers or the noble
-emulation of the officers?... No age, no nation, ever sent forth braver
-troops to battle than those who stormed Badajos.”
-
-In addition to Badajos, the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and of San Sebastian
-deserve mention. The annals of strife nowhere record assaults more
-daring than those which raged in turn around these three great
-fortresses. Of them all that of Badajos was the most picturesque and
-bloody; that of San Sebastian the most sullen and exasperating; that of
-Ciudad Rodrigo the swiftest and most brilliant. A great siege tests the
-fighting quality of an army as nothing else can test it. In the night
-watches in the trenches, in the dogged toil of the batteries, and the
-crowded perils of the breach, all the frippery and much of the real
-discipline of an army dissolves. The soldiers fall back upon what may be
-called the primitive fighting qualities--the hardihood of the individual
-soldier, the daring with which the officers will lead, the dogged
-loyalty with which the men will follow. As an illustration of the
-warlike qualities in a race by which empire has been achieved, nothing
-better can be desired than the story of how the breaches were won at
-Ciudad Rodrigo.
-
-At the end of 1811 the English and the French were watching each other
-jealously across the Spanish border. The armies of Marmont and of Soult,
-sixty-seven thousand strong, lay within touch of each other, barring
-Wellington’s entrance into Spain. Wellington, with thirty-five thousand
-men, of whom not more than ten thousand men were British, lay within
-sight of the Spanish frontier. It was the winter time. Wellington’s army
-was wasted by sickness, his horses were dying of mere starvation, his
-men had received no pay for three months, and his muleteers none for
-eight months. He had no siege train, his regiments were ragged and
-hungry, and the French generals confidently reckoned the British army
-as, for the moment at least, une quantite negligeable.
-
-And yet at that precise moment, Wellington, subtle and daring, was
-meditating a leap upon the great frontier fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, in
-the Spanish province of Salamanca. Its capture would give him a safe
-base of operations against Spain; it was the great frontier place
-d’armes for the French; the whole siege equipage and stores of the army
-of Portugal were contained in it. The problem of how, in the depth of
-winter, without materials for a siege, to snatch a place so strong from
-under the very eyes of two armies, each stronger than his own, was a
-problem which might have taxed the warlike genius of a Cæsar. But
-Wellington accomplished it with a combination of subtlety and audacity
-simply marvelous.
-
-He kept the secret of his design so perfectly that his own engineers
-never suspected it, and his adjutant-general, Murray, went home on leave
-without dreaming anything was going to happen. Wellington collected
-artillery ostensibly for the purpose of arming Almeida, but the guns
-were transshipped at sea and brought secretly to the mouth of the Douro.
-No less than eight hundred mule-carts were constructed without anybody
-guessing their purpose. Wellington, while these preparations were on
-foot, was keenly watching Marmont and Soult, till he saw that they were
-lulled into a state of mere yawning security, and then, in Napier’s
-expressive phrase, he “instantly jumped with both feet upon Ciudad
-Rodrigo.”
-
-This famous fortress, in shape, roughly resembles a triangle with the
-angles truncated. The base, looking to the south, is covered by the
-Agueda, a river given to sudden inundations; the fortifications were
-strong and formidably armed; as outworks it had to the east the great
-fortified Convent of San Francisco, to the west a similar building
-called Santa Cruz; while almost parallel with the northern face rose two
-rocky ridges called the Great and Small Teson, the nearest within six
-hundred yards of the city ramparts, and crowned by a formidable redoubt
-called Francisco. The siege began on January 8. The soil was rocky and
-covered with snow, the nights were black, the weather bitter. The men
-lacked intrenching tools. They had to encamp on the side of the Agueda
-furthest from the city, and ford that river every time the trenches were
-relieved. The 1st, 3d, and light divisions formed the attacking force;
-each division held the trenches in turn for twenty-four hours. Let the
-reader imagine what degree of hardihood it took to wade in the gray and
-bitter winter dawn through a half-frozen river, and, without fire or
-warm food, and under a ceaseless rain of shells from the enemy’s guns,
-to toil in the frozen trenches, or to keep watch, while the icicles
-hung from eyebrow and beard, over the edge of the battery for
-twenty-four hours in succession.
-
-Nothing in this great siege is more wonderful than the fierce speed with
-which Wellington urged his operations. Massena, who had besieged and
-captured the city the year before in the height of summer, spent a month
-in bombarding it before he ventured to assault. Wellington broke ground
-on January 8, under a tempest of mingled hail and rain; he stormed it on
-the night of the 19th.
-
-He began operations by leaping on the strong work that crowned the Great
-Teson the very night the siege began. Two companies from each regiment
-of the light division were detailed by the officer of the day, Colonel
-Colborne, for the assault. Colborne (afterward Lord Seaton), a cool and
-gallant soldier, called his officers together in a group and explained
-with great minuteness how they were to attack. He then lanched his men
-against the redoubt with a vehemence so swift that, to those who watched
-the scene under the light of a wintry moon, the column of redcoats, like
-the thrust of a crimson sword-blade, spanned the ditch, shot up the
-glacis, and broke through the parapet with a single movement. The
-accidental explosion of a French shell burst the gate open, and the
-remainder of the attacking party instantly swept through it. There was
-fierce musketry fire and a tumult of shouting for a moment or two, but
-in twenty minutes from Colborne’s lanching his attack every Frenchman in
-the redoubt was killed, wounded, or a prisoner.
-
-The fashion in which the gate was blown open was very curious. A French
-sergeant was in the act of throwing a live shell upon the storming party
-in the ditch, when he was struck by an English bullet. The lighted shell
-fell from his hands within the parapet, was kicked away by the nearest
-French in mere self-preservation; it rolled toward the gate, exploded,
-burst it open, and instantly the British broke in.
-
-For ten days a desperate artillery duel raged between the besiegers and
-the besieged. The parallels were resolutely pushed on in spite of rocky
-soil, broken tools, bitter weather, and the incessant pelting of the
-French guns. The temper of the British troops is illustrated by an
-incident which George Napier--the youngest of the three
-Napiers--relates. The three brothers were gallant and remarkable
-soldiers. Charles Napier in India and elsewhere made history; William,
-in his wonderful tale of the Peninsular War, wrote history; and George,
-if he had not the literary genius of the one nor the strategic skill of
-the other, was a most gallant soldier. “I was a field-officer of the
-trenches,” he says, “when a 13-inch shell from the town fell in the
-midst of us. I called to the men to lie down flat, and they instantly
-obeyed orders, except one of them, an Irishman and an old marine, but a
-most worthless drunken dog, who trotted up to the shell, the fuse of
-which was still burning, and striking it with his spade, knocked the
-fuse out; then taking the immense shell in his hands, brought it to me,
-saying, ‘There she is for you, now, yer ’anner. I’ve knocked the life
-out of the crater.’”
-
-The besieged brought fifty heavy guns to reply to the thirty light
-pieces by which they were assailed, and day and night the bellow of
-eighty pieces boomed sullenly over the doomed city and echoed faintly
-back from the nearer hills, while the walls crashed to the stroke of the
-bullet. The English fire made up by fierceness and accuracy for what it
-lacked in weight; but the sap made no progress, the guns showed signs of
-being worn out, and, although two apparent breaches had been made, the
-counterscarp was not destroyed. Yet Wellington determined to attack,
-and, in his characteristic fashion, to attack by night. The siege had
-lasted ten days, and Marmont, with an army stronger than his own, was
-lying within four marches. That he had not appeared already on the scene
-was wonderful.
-
-In a general order issued on the evening of the 19th Wellington wrote,
-“Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed this evening.” The great breach was a
-sloping gap in the wall at its northern angle, about a hundred feet
-wide. The French had crowned it with two guns loaded with grape, the
-slope was strewn with bombs, hand-grenades and bags of powder; a great
-mine pierced it beneath; a deep ditch had been cut between the breach
-and the adjoining ramparts, and these were crowded with riflemen. The
-third division, under General Mackinnon, was to attack the breach, its
-forlorn hope being led by Ensign Mackie, its storming party by General
-Mackinnon himself. The lesser breach was a tiny gap, scarcely twenty
-feet wide, to the left of the great breach; this was to be attacked by
-the light division, under Craufurd, its forlorn hope of twenty-five men
-being led by Gurwood, and its storming party by George Napier. General
-Pack, with a Portuguese brigade, was to make a sham attack on the
-eastern face, while a fourth attack was to be made on the southern front
-by a company of the 83d and some Portuguese troops. In the storming
-party of the 83d were the Earl of March, afterward Duke of Richmond;
-Lord Fitzroy Somerset, afterward Lord Raglan; and the Prince of
-Orange--all volunteers without Wellington’s knowledge!
-
-At seven o’clock a curious silence fell suddenly on the battered city
-and the engirdling trenches. Not a light gleamed from the frowning
-parapets, not a murmur arose from the blackened trenches. Suddenly a
-shout broke out on the right of the English attack; it ran, a wave of
-stormy sound, along the line of the trenches. The men who were to attack
-the great breach leaped into the open. In a moment the space between the
-hostile lines was covered with the stormers, and the gloomy, half-seen
-face of the great fortress broke into a tempest of fire.
-
-Nothing could be finer than the vehement courage of the assault, unless
-it were the cool and steady fortitude of the defense. Swift as was the
-upward rush of the stormers, the race of the 5th, 77th, and 94th
-regiments was almost swifter. Scorning to wait for the ladders, they
-leaped into the great ditch, outpaced even the forlorn hope, and pushed
-vehemently up the great breach, while their red ranks were torn by shell
-and shot. The fire, too, ran through the tangle of broken stones over
-which they climbed; the hand-grenades and powder-bags by which it was
-strewn exploded. The men were walking on fire! Yet the attack could not
-be denied. The Frenchmen--shooting, stabbing, yelling--were driven
-behind their intrenchments. There the fire of the houses commanding the
-breach came to their help, and they made a gallant stand. “None would go
-back on either side, and yet the British could not get forward, and men
-and officers falling in heaps choked up the passage, which from minute
-to minute was raked with grape from two guns flanking the top of the
-breach at the distance of a few yards. Thus striving, and trampling
-alike upon the dead and the wounded, these brave men maintained the
-combat.”
-
-It was the attack on the smaller breach which really carried Ciudad
-Rodrigo; and George Napier, who led it, has left a graphic narrative of
-the exciting experiences of that dreadful night. The light division was
-to attack, and Craufurd, with whom Napier was a favorite, gave him
-command of the storming party. He was to ask for one hundred volunteers
-from each of the three British regiments--the 43d, 52d, and the rifle
-corps--in the division. Napier halted these regiments just as they had
-forded the bitterly cold river on their way to the trenches. “Soldiers,”
-he said, “I want one hundred men from each regiment to form the storming
-party which is to lead the light division to-night. Those who will go
-with me come forward!”
-
-Instantly there was a rush forward of the whole division, and Napier had
-to take his three hundred men out of a tumult of nearly one thousand
-five hundred candidates. He formed them into three companies, under
-Captains Ferguson, Jones, and Mitchell. Gurwood, of the 52d, led the
-forlorn hope, consisting of twenty-five men and two sergeants.
-Wellington himself came to the trench and showed Napier and Colborne,
-through the gloom of the early night, the exact position of the breach.
-A staff-officer, looking on, said, “Your men are not loaded. Why don’t
-you make them load?” Napier replied, “If we don’t do the business with
-the bayonet we shall not do it at all. I shall not load.”--“Let him
-alone,” said Wellington; “let him go his own way.” Picton had adopted
-the same grim policy with the third division. As each regiment passed
-him, filing into the trenches, his injunction was, “No powder! We’ll do
-the thing with the _could_ iron.”
-
-A party of Portuguese carrying bags filled with grass were to run with
-the storming party and throw the bags into the ditch, as the leap was
-too deep for the men. But the Portuguese hesitated, the tumult of the
-attack on the great breach suddenly broke on the night, and the forlorn
-hope went running up, leaped into the ditch, a depth of eleven feet, and
-clambered up the steep slope beyond, while Napier with his stormers came
-with a run behind them. In the dark for a moment the breach was lost,
-but found again, and up the steep quarry of broken stone the attack
-swept.
-
-About two-thirds of the way up, Napier’s arm was smashed by a
-grape-shot, and he fell. His men, checked for a moment, lifted their
-muskets to the gap above them, whence the French were firing vehemently,
-and forgetting their pieces were unloaded, snapped them. “Push on with
-the bayonet, men!” shouted Napier, as he lay bleeding. The officers
-leaped to the front, the men with a stern shout followed; they were
-crushed to a front of not more than three or four. They had to climb
-without firing a shot in reply up to the muzzles of the French muskets.
-
-But nothing could stop the men of the light division. A 24-pounder was
-placed across the narrow gap in the ramparts; the stormers leaped over
-it, and the 43d and 52d, coming up in sections abreast, followed. The
-43d wheeled to the right toward the great breach, the 52d to the left,
-sweeping the ramparts as they went.
-
-Meanwhile the other two attacks had broken into the town; but at the
-great breach the dreadful fight still raged, until the 43d, coming
-swiftly along the ramparts, and brushing all opposition aside, took the
-defense in the rear. The British there had, as a matter of fact, at that
-exact moment pierced the French defense. The two guns that scourged the
-breach had wrought deadly havoc among the stormers, and a sergeant and
-two privates of the 88th--Irishmen all, and whose names deserve to be
-preserved--Brazel, Kelly, and Swan--laid down their firelocks that they
-might climb more lightly, and, armed only with their bayonets, forced
-themselves through the embrasure among the French gunners. They were
-furiously attacked, and Swan’s arm was hewed off by a saber stroke; but
-they stopped the service of the gun, slew five or six of the French
-gunners, and held the post until the men of the 5th, climbing behind
-them, broke into the battery.
-
-So Ciudad Rodrigo was won, and its governor surrendered his sword to the
-youthful lieutenant leading the forlorn hope of the light division, who,
-with smoke-blackened face, torn uniform, and staggering from a dreadful
-wound, still kept at the head of his men.
-
-In the eleven days of the siege Wellington lost one thousand three
-hundred men and officers, out of whom six hundred and fifty men and
-sixty officers were struck down on the slopes of the breaches. Two
-notable soldiers died in the attack--Craufurd, the famous leader of the
-light division, as he brought his men up to the lesser breach; and
-Mackinnon, who commanded a brigade of the third division, at the great
-breach. Mackinnon was a gallant Highlander, a soldier of great promise,
-beloved by his men. His “children,” as he called them, followed him up
-the great breach till the bursting of a French mine destroyed all the
-leading files, including their general. Craufurd was buried in the
-lesser breach itself, and Mackinnon in the great breach--fitting graves
-for soldiers so gallant.
-
-Alison says that with the rush of the English stormers up the breaches
-of Ciudad Rodrigo “began the fall of the French empire.” That siege, so
-fierce and brilliant, was, as a matter of fact, the first of that
-swift-following succession of strokes which drove the French in ruin out
-of Spain, and it coincided in point of time with the turn of the tide
-against Napoleon in Russia.
-
-But, as already noted, the climax of the war occurred at Vittoria.
-Wellington, overtaking the French at that place, inflicted on them a
-defeat which drove in utter rout one hundred and twenty thousand veteran
-troops from Spain. There is no more brilliant chapter in military
-history; and, at its close, to quote Napier’s clarion-like sentences,
-“the English general, emerging from the chaos of the Peninsular
-struggle, stood on the summit of the Pyrenees a recognized conqueror.
-From those lofty pinnacles the clangor of his trumpets pealed clear and
-loud, and the splendor of his genius appeared as a flaming beacon to
-warring nations.”
-
-The victory not only freed Spain from its invaders; it restored the
-spirit of the allies. The close of the armistice was followed by a union
-of Austria with the forces of Prussia and the Czar; and in October a
-final overthrow of Napoleon at Leipzig forced the French army to fall
-back in rout across the Rhine. The war now hurried to its close. Though
-held at bay for a while by the sieges of San Sebastian and Pampeluna, as
-well as by an obstinate defense of the Pyrenees, Wellington succeeded in
-the very month of the triumph at Leipzig in winning a victory on the
-Bidassoa which enabled him to enter France. He was soon followed by the
-allies. On the last day of 1813 their forces crossed the Rhine; and a
-third of France passed, without opposition, into their hands. For two
-months more Napoleon maintained a wonderful struggle with a handful of
-raw conscripts against their overwhelming numbers; while in the south,
-Soult, forced from his intrenched camp near Bayonne and defeated at
-Orthes, fell back before Wellington on Toulouse. Here their two armies
-met in April in a stubborn and indecisive engagement. But though neither
-leader knew it, the war was even then at an end. The struggle of
-Napoleon himself had ended at the close of March with the surrender of
-Paris; and the submission of the capital was at once followed by the
-abdication of the emperor and the return of Ferdinand.
-
-After the convulsions it had endured, Spain required a period of firm
-but conciliatory government; but the ill-fate of the country gave the
-throne at this crisis to the worst of her Bourbon kings. Ferdinand VII.
-had never possessed the good qualities which popular credulity had
-assigned to him, and he had learned nothing in his four years’ captivity
-except an aptitude for lying and intrigue. He had no conception of the
-duties of a ruler; his public conduct was regulated by pride and
-superstition, and his private life was stained by the grossest sensual
-indulgence.
-
-But Spain was not allowed to work out its own salvation. Europe was
-dominated at this time by the Holy Alliance, which disguised a
-resolution to repress popular liberties and to maintain despotism under
-a pretended zeal for piety, justice and brotherly love. At the Congress
-of Verona (October, 1822), France, Austria, Russia and Prussia agreed
-upon armed intervention in Spain, in spite of the protest of Canning on
-the part of England. Spain was to be called upon to alter her
-constitution and to grant greater liberty to the king, and if an
-unsatisfactory answer were received France was authorized to take active
-measures. The demand was unhesitatingly refused, and a French army,
-100,000 strong, at once entered Spain under the Duke of Angouleme
-(April, 1823). No effective resistance was made, and Madrid was entered
-by the invaders (May 23). The Cortes, however, had carried off the king
-to Seville, whence they again retreated to Cadiz. The bombardment of
-that city terminated the revolution and Ferdinand was released (October
-1). His first act was to revoke everything that had been done since
-1819. The Inquisition was not restored, but the secular tribunals took a
-terrible revenge upon the leaders of the rebellion. The protest of the
-Duke of Angouleme against these cruelties was unheeded. Even the fear of
-revolt, the last check upon despotism, was removed by the presence of
-the French army, which remained in Spain till 1827. But Spain had to pay
-for the restoration of the royal absolutism, as Canning backed up his
-protest against the intervention of France by acknowledging the
-independence of the Spanish colonies.
-
-Ferdinand VII. was enabled to finish his worthless and disastrous reign
-in comparative peace. In 1829 he married a fourth wife, Maria Christina
-of Naples, and at the same time he issued a “Pragmatic Sanction”
-abolishing the Salic law in Spain. No one expected any practical results
-from this edict, but a formal protest was made against it by the king’s
-brothers, Carlos and Francisco, and also by the French and Neapolitan
-Bourbons. In the next year, however, the queen gave birth to a daughter,
-Isabella, who was proclaimed as queen on her father’s death in 1833,
-while her mother undertook the office of regent.
-
-Don Carlos at once asserted his intention of maintaining the Salic law,
-and rallied round him all the supporters of absolutism, especially the
-inhabitants of the Basque Provinces. Christina was compelled to rely
-upon the Liberals, and to conciliate them by the grant of a
-constitution, the estatuto real, which established two chambers chosen
-by indirect election. But this constitution, drawn up under the
-influence of Louis Philippe of France, failed to satisfy the advanced
-Liberals, and the Christinos split into two parties, the Moderados and
-Progresistas. In 1836 the latter party extorted from the regent the
-revival of the constitution of 1812. All this time the government was
-involved in a desperate struggle with the Carlists, who at first gained
-considerable successes under Zumalacarregui and Cabrera. But the death
-of Zumalacarregui in 1835 and the support of France and England
-ultimately gave the regent the upper hand, and in 1839 her general,
-Espartoro, forced the Basque Provinces to submit to Isabella. Don Carlos
-renounced his claims in favor of his eldest son, another Carlos, and
-retired to Trieste, where he died in 1855.
-
-Christina now tried to sever herself from the Progresistas, and to
-govern with the help of the moderate party who enjoyed the patronage of
-Louis Philippe. But England, jealous of French influence at Madrid,
-threw the weight of her influence on to the side of the Radicals, who
-found a powerful leader in Espartero. In 1840, Christina had to retire
-to France, and Espartero was recognized as regent by the Cortes. But his
-elevation was resented by the other officers, while his subservience to
-England made him unpopular, and in 1848 he also had to go into exile.
-Isabella was now declared of age. Christina returned to Madrid, and the
-Moderados under Narvaez obtained complete control over the government.
-This was a great victory for France, and Louis Philippe abused his
-success by negotiating the infamous “Spanish marriages.” A husband was
-found for Isabella in her cousin, Francis of Assis, whose recommendation
-in French eyes was the improbability of his begetting children. On the
-same day the queen’s sister, Maria Louisa, was married to Louis
-Philippe’s son, the Duke of Montpensier. By this means it was hoped to
-secure the reversion of the Spanish throne for the House of Orleans.
-The scheme recoiled on the heads of those who framed it. The alienation
-of England gave a fatal impulse to the fall of Louis Philippe, while the
-subsequent birth of children to Isabella deprived the Montpensier
-marriage of all importance.
-
-Spanish history during the reign of Isabella II. presents a dismal
-picture of faction and intrigue. The queen herself sought compensation
-for her unhappy marriage in sensual indulgence, and tried to cover the
-dissoluteness of her private life by a superstitious devotion to
-religion and by throwing her influence to the side of the clerical and
-reactionary party. Every now and then the Progresistas and Moderados
-forced themselves into office, but their mutual jealousy prevented them
-from acquiring any permanent hold upon the government. In 1866, Isabella
-was induced to take vigorous measures against the Liberal opposition.
-Narvaez was appointed chief minister; and the most prominent Liberals,
-Serrano, Prim and O’Donnell, had to seek safety in exile. The Cortes
-were dissolved, and many of the deputies were transported to the Canary
-Islands. The ascendency of the court party was maintained by a rigorous
-persecution, which was continued after Narvaez’s death (April, 1868) by
-Gonzales Bravo.
-
-Common dangers succeeded at last in combining the various sections of
-the Liberals for mutual defense, and the people, disgusted by the
-scandals of the court and the contemptible camarilla which surrounded
-the queen, rallied to their side. In September, 1868, Serrano and Prim
-returned to Spain, where they raised the standard of revolt and offered
-the people the bribe of universal suffrage. The revolution was speedily
-accomplished and Isabella fled to France, but the successful rebels were
-at once confronted with the difficulty of finding a successor for her.
-During the interregnum Serrano undertook the regency and the Cortes drew
-up a now constitution by which a hereditary king was to rule in
-conjunction with a senate and a popular chamber.
-
-As no one of the Bourbon candidates for the throne was acceptable, it
-became necessary to look around for some foreign prince. The offer of
-the crown to Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen excited the jealousy of
-France, and gave Napoleon III. the opportunity of picking a quarrel,
-which proved fatal to himself, with the rising state of Prussia. At last
-a king was found (1870) in Amadeus of Aosta, the second son of Victor
-Emmanuel, who made an honest effort to discharge the difficult office of
-a constitutional king in a country which was hardly fitted for
-constitutional government. But he found the task too hard and too
-distasteful, and resigned in 1878.
-
-A provisional republic was now formed, of which Castelar was the guiding
-spirit. But the Spaniards, trained to regard monarchy with superstitious
-reverence, had no sympathy with republican institutions. Don Carlos
-seized the opportunity to revive the claim of inalienable male
-succession, and raised the standard of revolt in the Basque Provinces,
-where his name was still a power. The disorders of the democrats and the
-approach of civil war threw the responsibility of government upon the
-army. The Cortes were dissolved by a military _coup d’etat_; Castelar
-threw up his office in disgust; and the administration was undertaken by
-a committee of officers. Anarchy was suppressed with a strong hand, but
-it was obvious that order could only be restored by reviving the
-monarchy. Foreign princes were no longer thought of, and the crown was
-offered to and accepted by Alfonso XII., the young son of the exiled
-Isabella (1874).
-
-His first task was to terminate the Carlist war, which still continued
-in the north, and this was successfully accomplished in 1876. Time was
-required to restore the prosperity of Spain under a peaceful and orderly
-government and to consolidate by prescription the authority of the
-restored dynasty. Unfortunately a premature death carried off Alfonso
-XII. in 1885, before he could complete the work which circumstances laid
-upon him. The regency was intrusted to his widow, Christina of Austria,
-and the birth of a posthumous son (May 17, 1886), who is now the titular
-king of Spain, has excited a feeling of pitying loyalty which may help
-to secure the Bourbon dynasty in the last kingdom which is left to it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-COLONIAL SPAIN
-
-COLUMBUS--SIGHTING OF SAN SALVADOR--RETURN OF COLUMBUS--FOUNDING OF AN
-EMPIRE--MEXICO AND PERU--THE WEST INDIES--GERMS OF REBELLION
-
-
-In August, 1492, Columbus sailed on his voyage of discovery. In
-September, 1898, his remains were conveyed from the New World to the
-Old. Between those two dates an empire rose and fell. The causes which
-led to the one and the effects which precipitated the other may now be
-conveniently considered.
-
-In earlier years Cadiz was a famous seaport. Her sons were immemorial
-explorers. The presentiment of a land across the sea was theirs by
-intuition. Constantly they extended their expeditions, and would have
-extended them still further had not the Church interfered. The spirit of
-enterprise, checked as heretical, revived centuries later in a
-neighboring land. It was Portugal that it inspired. There the work of
-exploration and discovery was resumed. The island of Madeira was reached
-in 1420, the Azores annexed in 1431. But it was along the African coast
-that Portuguese effort was mainly directed. Tradition asserted that the
-entire continent had been circumnavigated centuries before by voyagers
-from Phœnicia; but, as no details were recorded, the adventure was
-regarded as something more than dubious. However, the west coast began
-now to be systematically explored. Nuno Tristao entered the Senegal
-River in 1445; a year later Diniz Dias, a fellow-navigator, sailed as
-far as Cape Verd. The equator was not crossed until 1471; the Congo was
-revealed in 1484; and in 1486 the crowning feat of all was accomplished,
-when Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Stormy Cape, soon to become known as
-the Cape of Good Hope, and opened up communication with the East by
-water, instead of overland or by the indirect route of the Red Sea,
-which necessitated the transshipment of all merchandise conveyed that
-way.
-
-The expedition to the west which Columbus ultimately directed was
-conceived by him in 1474, and unfolded to John II., king of Portugal, by
-whom, however, it was rejected; whereupon Columbus dispatched his
-brother Bartholomew to enter into negotiations with Henry VII. of
-England, and after assuring himself that neither Genoa nor Venice was
-likely to lend him a willing ear, much less ready help, he repaired to
-the south of Spain in 1485.
-
-Had Bartholomew not fallen into the hands of pirates, and so been
-prevented from reaching his destination for several years, it is more
-than probable that the credit as well as the profit of the discovery of
-America would have fallen at once to England, as Henry had both the
-means and the inclination to indulge in some such venture, provided it
-was not too costly, and showed any reasonable prospect of success. As it
-was, Christopher was left to pursue his pleadings before the Spanish
-Court.
-
-It was an unfortunate time to put forward any proposals calculated to
-divert the wealth and strength of the kingdom beyond its own borders;
-for Ferdinand and Isabella were then in the very midst of the campaign
-which ended in the final overthrow of the Moorish dominion, in the
-Peninsula.
-
-Ultimately, however, after the fall of Granada and eighteen years of
-waiting, his proposals were accepted by Isabella and his hopes realized.
-A royal edict constituted him perpetual and hereditary admiral and
-viceroy of any territories discovered, together with a tenth of any
-profits derived therefrom. With this edict and funds advanced by the
-receiver of ecclesiastical revenues, Columbus hastened to the port of
-Palos. There, two brothers by the name of Pinzon aiding, he got together
-a crew of a hundred and twenty men, a scratch armada of three leaky
-tubs--the “Santa Maria,” the “Pinta” and the “Nina”--and, on the 3d of
-August, 1492, weighed anchor for pastures new.
-
-Columbus, as admiral of the fleet, commanded the “Santa Maria”; the two
-Pinzons, Martin Alonzo and Vicente Yanez, the “Pinta” and “Nina”
-respectively. The expressed object of the voyage was to convert the
-Grand Khan, supposed to be the great potentate of the Far East, to
-Christianity; and Columbus never doubted but that in due course he would
-arrive at Japan, or Zipangu, as it had been named by the Venetian
-explorer, Marco Polo, who had reached it by an overland route more than
-a century before, and had described its wonders, together with those of
-Cathay or China, through which he passed on his way. The one condition
-imposed was, that the squadron should not touch at any place on the
-African continent, claimed to be under Portuguese jurisdiction, as that
-would have led to immediate hostilities between the two countries.
-
-The details of the voyage are sufficiently familiar to dispense with
-narration here. It will suffice to note that after seventy days the
-island of San Salvador, as it was then named, hove in sight; that on the
-28th of October, sixteen days later, Cuba was discovered, and that on
-the 6th of December Hayti was reached.
-
-Several circumstances then made it advisable for Columbus to return to
-Spain without further delay. He had seen enough to be convinced that a
-much larger force than he had under his command would be necessary to
-make the subjugation of these newly acquired territories effective; news
-of the discovery might reach Europe before him, and be taken advantage
-of by some other sovereign than the one to whom he was devoted; and he
-had now sufficient treasure of various kinds to convince the most
-skeptical of the complete success of his enterprise. After constructing
-a small fort, and leaving a portion of the crew, at their own desire, to
-garrison it until he should return, he set sail for home with the “Nina”
-on the 4th of January, 1493.
-
-Reaching Palos on the 13th of March, Columbus was immediately summoned
-to Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella were then domiciled, made a
-triumphal entry into the city, and, on his arrival at the royal
-residence, was welcomed by the king and queen in person, who commanded
-him to be seated by their side, while he related the account of his
-adventures.
-
-Meanwhile the report of the discovery had spread. Portugal sought to
-take advantage of it through the theory that all heathen countries were
-in the gift of the Pope, which gift a Bull had already confirmed. But,
-Spain protesting, a subsequent Bull confirmed the Portuguese in their
-existing possessions, and granted them all territory that should be
-discovered east of a line drawn from north to south, one hundred leagues
-west of the Azores, while the Spaniards were to enjoy exclusive dominion
-over everything west of it.
-
-This was regarded as so unsatisfactory by Portugal that, at its
-instigation, negotiations between the two countries were opened, and
-resulted the following year in the conclusion of the Treaty of
-Tordesillas, by which it was agreed to move the line three hundred and
-seventy leagues west of the Azores; a most important change, because by
-it Portugal subsequently established its claim to the Brazils, a portion
-of which was found to fall east of the line of demarcation, while it
-could urge the further plea of having been first in the field, through
-the accidental deviation of Cabral. At any rate, the whole world outside
-Europe was leased in perpetuity to Spain and Portugal; and had the
-pretensions of the Holy See in things temporal as well as spiritual
-continued to be recognized, neither England, France nor Germany could
-to-day own a square yard of territory in the three greatest continents
-of the world.
-
-While the negotiations were in progress, preparations for a second
-expedition on a vastly greater scale were rapidly pushed forward. The
-direction of them was intrusted to a cleric named Fonseca, a capable man
-of business, but who for some reason or other conceived a violent
-dislike to Columbus, and threw every obstacle in his way. The eagerness
-to embark on this second voyage was far more marked than the reluctance
-exhibited in the first, and the best blood of Spain pressed into the
-service. The number of adventurers was originally limited to a thousand;
-but the applications were so numerous, from those who believed that
-fortunes were waiting to be picked up in the New World, that this was
-raised to twelve hundred, and fifteen hundred actually sailed in
-seventeen vessels from the Bay of Cadiz on the 25th of September, 1493.
-All was keen anticipation during the voyage, the disappointments only
-commenced at its termination.
-
-“Into these,” says Mr. R. J. Root, whose account we quote, “there is no
-occasion to enter now. The main point of interest is, that a
-sufficiently large force of Spaniards had taken part in the enterprise
-to confirm the possession of the New World to their country, and defeat
-any attempts that Portugal might be likely to make to filch it away.
-After establishing a settlement at Isabella on the north of Hayti, or
-Hispaniola, as it was then named, Columbus was free to prosecute further
-explorations, the principal one being to sail along the southern shores
-of Cuba; but, after continuing his voyage to within a few miles of its
-western extremity, he arrived at the conclusion that it was the
-mainland, and reported to that effect--nor was it until after his death
-that it was proved to be an island. Everything was claimed for the
-Spanish crown; and, as there were absolutely no competitors, it can well
-be understood how the entire group of islands constituting the West
-Indies became Spanish colonies.
-
-“Various causes compelled Columbus to relinquish his exploration and
-return, first to Hispaniola and then to Spain. For one thing, the two
-vessels with which he set sail were ill-provisioned. With that
-confidence in his own judgment which was so characteristic of the man,
-he relied upon encountering at no great distance those civilized or at
-least semi-civilized, nations of which he had come in search, but
-instead he met only the fierce tribes of Cuba and Jamaica, who offered
-resistance, not welcome, and arrows in lieu of food.
-
-“On his return to the colony, affairs were in a most unsatisfactory
-condition. The last thing most of the colonists dreamed of when they
-left their native shores was work. They had gone out, as they fondly
-imagined, to pick up the gold as it lay at their feet, and when they had
-accumulated sufficient, meant to return and enjoy it. Though Columbus
-had never promised, nor even suggested anything of the sort, his
-brilliant descriptions and anticipations were undoubtedly responsible
-for the ideas so freely indulged, and the indignation against him rose
-just as rapidly as hopes were blasted. Complaints were finding their way
-to Spain, and lest he should be prejudiced in the eyes of his
-sovereigns, he determined to embark thence and render a personal account
-of his stewardship.
-
-“The voyage home was, if anything, more protracted, and entailed greater
-hardships, than the previous one. Columbus arrived at Cadiz on the 1st
-June, 1496, and met with a warmer reception than he had dared to hope
-for. But intrigue was busy, and his arch-enemy Fonseca, who was by this
-time in almost undisputed control of colonial affairs, threw numerous
-and persistent obstacles in the way of his fitting out another
-expedition. The stories told by returned colonists of the want and
-suffering they had endured were not conducive to others volunteering
-for the service, and it was only on the 30th May, 1498, that the admiral
-was again able to set sail from San Lucar with a small fleet of six
-vessels, manned almost entirely by convicts specially released.
-
-“A more southerly course was taken than on either of the previous
-occasions, and the first place touched was the island of Trinidad.
-Sailing round it from the southwest, the ships were suddenly caught and
-swept along by a mighty current, which Columbus discovered to be of
-fresh water, and rightly judged to be poured out of some vast river. He
-had, in fact, reached the coast of South America, and was in the waters
-of the Orinoco as they rushed to mingle with the ocean. The natives
-proved of a more friendly disposition as well as of superior type to
-those encountered in many of the islands; and as they possessed gold,
-and also something still more precious, pearls, every encouragement was
-given them to trade. They were just as eager after the trumpery toys of
-the Old World as the inhabitants of San Salvador had been the first time
-they were ever exhibited in the New, and we may be sure the bargains
-made were very profitable to the Spaniards. Still, these were not the
-people Columbus had come in search of, and his inquiries and labors were
-diligently directed to the discovery of a passage which should lead him
-still further west to the dominions of the Grand Khan.
-
-“After some time vainly spent in exploring the coast with this object,
-an affection of the eyes compelled him to desist and make once more for
-Hispaniola, where he had left his brother Bartholomew as governor during
-his absence. A strange welcome awaited him, however. In response to the
-continued complaints of the colonists, a commissioner had been
-dispatched from Spain to inquire into their grievances, and certain
-powers were intrusted to him to assume authority in the island in case
-of necessity. Deeply impressed with a sense of his own importance,
-Francisco Bobadilla, the officer appointed, immediately on his arrival
-began to act in the most reckless and arbitrary manner; and the
-discoverer of the New World, without any warning, found himself
-arrested, loaded with chains, thrown into prison, and finally sent home
-to Spain in this ignominious fashion.
-
-“Great was the public, still greater the royal indignation, when he
-arrived in this sorry plight; every effort was made to soothe the
-feelings so deeply wounded by this dire insult, and Bobadilla would have
-paid dearly for his temerity had he survived to answer for his misdeeds.
-But news had reached Spain of the wonderful riches of the Gulf of Paria
-some time before the arrival of Columbus, and the malignant and untiring
-Fonseca, in direct contravention of the charter conveying the rights to
-the admiral, stimulated private enterprise to follow in the track,
-taking the utmost possible advantage of whatever information he had
-gained in his official capacity, and imparting it to others. An
-expedition was fitted out under Alonzo de Ojeda, one of the most
-dare-devil adventurers who ever quitted the shores of his own or any
-other country, and whose marvelous exploits in Hispaniola had already
-excited the wonder and admiration of men long accustomed to feats of
-skill and courage. Accompanying him was Amerigo Vespucci, a Venetian
-navigator, who strangely enough was destined to give his name to the
-whole of the vast continent which he was about to visit for the first
-time, though he never accomplished anything of practical importance in
-it. Several other ships were fitted out, including a caravel of fifty
-tons’ burden by Pedro Alonzo Nino, which performed the most lucrative
-voyage of any vessel or squadron equipped up to that time, and returned
-home well freighted with pearls and other costly treasure. This was
-quite sufficient to stimulate ambition as well as greed, and when
-Columbus arrived he had the mortification of learning that others were
-actively exploiting his preserves.
-
-“While these events were happening, another enterprise was undertaken
-quite beyond the cognizance of the Spanish authorities. Bartholomew
-Columbus, it will be remembered, had proceeded on a mission to Henry
-VII. some years previous; and when the English monarch learned that the
-most sanguine anticipations had been realized, he was anxious to share
-in the results. As early as 1495 he endeavored to equip and dispatch a
-squadron of his own, but it was not until two years later that Sebastian
-Cabot, despite the existence of the Papal Bull, set sail from Bristol.
-Steering a direct westerly course, he struck the coast of Newfoundland,
-and leisurely sailed south almost to the extreme point of Florida, ere
-he resumed his homeward journey. The Spanish government naturally
-protested against this infringement of its rights, and Henry found it
-politic to listen, as he was then in close alliance, and engaged in
-negotiating the marriage between his son and Katharine of Aragon, which
-subsequently proved so pregnant to the religious and ecclesiastical
-destinies of England. It was at a later period, and under totally
-different circumstances, that the Anglo-Saxon race was to occupy and
-overrun the northern continent.
-
-“Columbus himself was spared to undertake one more voyage, and this time
-it was to be confined exclusively to the continent, he being absolutely
-forbidden to land at Hispaniola, where Nicolas Ovando, with a force of
-all sorts and conditions of men, numbering two thousand five hundred,
-had been installed as governor; and so jealous was he of any
-interference with his prerogatives that, when the admiral was driven by
-stress of weather to take shelter in the harbor of San Domingo, he was
-ordered to quit instantly.
-
-“This proved the most disastrous of all his voyages. After exploring the
-coasts of Honduras and Central America generally, in search of the
-non-existent channel, until the provisions were in such a state that
-they could only be eaten in the dark, it was decided to land, despite
-the fierce opposition of the natives, and plant a permanent settlement
-under Bartholomew, who accompanied his brother. This, however, had to be
-abandoned; and on the way back the only remaining vessel ran aground in
-Dry Harbor in Jamaica, and became a total wreck, the most incredible
-suffering, aggravated by constant mutiny, being experienced, until the
-remnant of the crew was eventually relieved.
-
-“Columbus having shown the way to the mainland, as well as the islands,
-it was left to others to reveal the vast extent and natural wealth of
-what he had discovered, and he died on the 20th May, 1506, in complete
-ignorance of many of the most important facts which his genius and
-tenacity permitted to be made known for the first time to the civilized
-world.
-
-“Columbus and his immediate followers hit upon the most unpromising part
-of the American Continent, where the damp, hot atmosphere, with its
-resulting rank and profuse vegetation, makes human existence intolerable
-if not wellnigh impossible. As the land was known to contain gold,
-however, the most persistent efforts were made to settle in it, and two
-regular governments were established under Alonzo de Ojeda and Diego de
-Nicuessa respectively. Nothing but disaster resulted for many a long
-year, and the greatest difficulties were experienced in extending or
-enlarging them in any direction but coastwise.
-
-“Narrow as the isthmus is in the part selected, it appeared
-impenetrable, until eventually the magic word gold encouraged a few bold
-spirits to overcome every obstacle. Wherever the adventurers went inland
-they heard of a great sea and vast abundance of the precious metal in an
-unknown land beyond. After incredible hardships, Vasco Nunez de Balboa
-and a handful of followers forced their way through the thickets and
-swamps, scaled the mountain range which runs like a backbone along the
-isthmus, and were rewarded for their pains when they reached the summit
-by the sight of the great southern sea lying at their feet. This
-occurred on the 26th September, 1513, and on the following day the party
-descended the western slopes; Vasco Nunez, as its leader and commander,
-taking possession of the Pacific Ocean on behalf of the King of Spain,
-with all the ceremonies and formalities customary on those occasions.
-
-“How to take advantage of it was the question. Far south, beyond where
-vision could reach, lay the golden land. They were without ships or
-means of conveyance of any sort, and the shore upon which they were now
-stranded was dangerous as well as inhospitable. The observant and
-ingenious mind of Nunez, inferior only to that of Columbus, evolved the
-idea of transporting material across the isthmus for the construction of
-a fleet to undertake the subjugation of all countries bordering on the
-Southern Sea; and such was the work eventually accomplished, though not
-by Nunez, who fell a victim to the jealousy and treachery of Pedrarias
-Davila, a new governor dispatched from Spain. It was left to one of his
-lieutenants, Francisco Pizarro, to set forth on a definite expedition
-more than ten years later; and it was not until nearly twenty years had
-elapsed that Peru was discovered, and the rich kingdom of the Incas
-added to the spoils of the Castilian monarch.
-
-“Meanwhile, exploration had been busy on the eastern side of the
-continent. Cuba, realized at length to be an island, was regularly
-colonized in 1511, and the governor, Diego Velasquez, being an
-enterprising and ambitious man, dispatched an expedition westward. The
-great peninsula of Yucatan was reached, and the officers of the little
-squadron were struck by the much higher state of civilization exhibited
-by the natives than by any others hitherto met with either in the
-islands or on the mainland. The news of this led to the subsequent
-expedition of Cortes, the story of whose conquest of Mexico reads more
-like a fairy tale than the narrative of actual events and hard
-realities.
-
-“The years 1519, 1520 and 1521 were occupied by this, the greatest of
-all the enterprises undertaken by Spain in the New World. Nor was there
-any lack of activity in other directions. Juan Ponce sailed from Porto
-Rico, in 1512, in search of a spring whose waters insured perennial
-youth to whoever drank of them, and found and annexed Florida instead.
-More than one navigator cruised southward as far as the Rio de la Plata,
-and in 1520 Magellan reached the extremity of the southern continent,
-and passed through the straits which bear his name. Nor was Cortes idle
-after he had accomplished his great work. North and south he sought to
-add to the territory of New Spain, until all the countries of Central
-America on one side, and the peninsula of California on the other, were
-brought under its sway. In less than half a century from the day
-Columbus first set foot on San Salvador, the entire continent, from
-Labrador to Patagonia, had been visited, and by far the greater part of
-it annexed to, and nominally ruled by, the Castilian crown.
-
-“To return, however, to Hispaniola. The rapid exhaustion which
-mismanagement produced there, joined to the absence of gold, led to the
-creation of other colonies. The discovery of the fisheries, first at
-Paria, and then in the islands of the Pacific, opened up an unexpected
-source of wealth; but it was not until Montezuma offered his munificent
-gifts to Cortes, to induce the latter to quit the shores of Mexico, that
-the first great reservoir of the precious metals was tapped. Still, it
-must be remembered that the great stores of gold discovered, first in
-Mexico, and subsequently in Peru, did not in themselves imply that these
-countries were capable of continuing to produce unlimited quantities.
-They were the accumulations of many years, possibly of many centuries;
-for, as there was no foreign trade, everything produced which could not
-be consumed had necessarily to be preserved or destroyed.
-
-“It may be wondered what value gold possessed in the ideas of these
-people. That it was held in nothing like the same esteem as by Europeans
-is certain; but in Peru, at any rate, its production and preservation
-were assured, from the fact that it was regarded as tears wept by the
-sun, which was the god of the people, whose Incas, or rulers, were
-called the Children of the Sun. In neither case, then, is it surprising
-that the treasure was not clung to with more tenacity. Both Montezuma
-and Atahualpa set a higher value upon many other things; and the
-quantities seized by Cortes and Pizarro and their respective followers,
-vast though it appeared in their eyes, and as it really was in those
-days, was parted with, with scarcely a pang of regret. That secured by
-Pizarro was by far the greater spoil, and was supposed to be the price
-of the freedom of the Inca himself, who offered to fill a room 85 feet
-by 17, and as high as a man could reach, with gold plate in exchange for
-it. He did not quite succeed, because Pizarro treacherously put him to
-death before the task was completed, yet the amount realized for
-distribution was equivalent to something like three and a half millions
-sterling ($17,500,000) of the money of to-day, and enriched the
-commonest foot-soldier beyond the dreams of avarice.
-
-“It was silver, not gold, moreover, which eventually made both countries
-at once the wonder and the envy of the civilized world. The richest
-mines were unknown to the Indians, having only been discovered after
-the Spanish conquest. Those of Zacotecas in Mexico were first worked in
-1532, while the more famous Potosi lode in Peru was laid bare in 1545,
-by a native scrambling up the side of a mountain in pursuit of some
-llamas which had strayed from his flock, and uprooting the shrubs to
-which he clung for support.
-
-“In the West Indies, meanwhile, the larger islands, like Porto Rico,
-Cuba and Jamaica, were gradually colonized, but the smaller ones were
-left alone; it can well be understood that in the absence of any proved
-deposits of gold they were scarcely worth attention, and it was
-sufficient to keep a watch over them to defend them from the incursions
-of other nations. With the conquest of Mexico, however, the center of
-gravity was moved further west, and still more so when followed by that
-of Peru, because the only known route from the latter was by Panama and
-across the isthmus.
-
-“These territories were altogether too great for efficient oversight;
-that of Mexico stretching from California in the north to Venezuela in
-the south, and including not only the West Indies, but the far removed
-Philippines, while that of Lima embraced the whole of South America both
-east and west of the Andes. The great territories included in the
-present Republics of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay were looked upon as
-of little value, as they contained neither gold nor silver; and as every
-attempt made to settle them only seemed to end in failure, little
-attention was given to their affairs. They became, indeed, a distinct
-source of loss to Spain, as they were found useful for purposes of
-contraband trade; and eventually the gold and silver, which could not
-be safely smuggled through the ordinary ports of shipment, were conveyed
-across the Andes and down the rivers to places of embarkation on the
-Amazon or Rio do la Plata, where foreign ships awaited the spoil and
-were ready to barter the coveted produce and manufactures of Europe in
-exchange. When these two viceroyalties were eventually subdivided, it
-was not into east and west, but north and south, and New Granada became
-the center of one; while the territories now included in the United
-States were separated from Mexico, and constituted the other.
-
-“In Spain everybody, from the king in his palace to the peasant in his
-hut, regarded the colonies simply as a source of revenue and profit to
-himself, and when they ceased to be this, they would be useless. The
-most stringent regulations were adopted, therefore, against trading or
-even communicating among themselves, or of engaging in any industry,
-manufacturing or agricultural, which was not indigenous to the country;
-indeed, Spain insisted upon supplying everything it could grow or make
-which would stand the sea voyage, at its own price. The cultivation of
-neither the olive nor the vine was permitted in the New World, and
-severe penalties were inflicted upon any one who had the temerity to
-disobey. Peru and Chili, however, were specially exempted, owing to
-their immense distance, and the damaged condition in which liquids
-generally arrived there, but they were not allowed to export the produce
-to any neighboring country, and must consume it themselves. The duties
-of the colonists were, in fact, strictly limited to obtaining as much
-gold and silver as they could, while the Spaniards at home were to take
-care that they retained as little of it as possible. For all that, many
-fortunes were realized, principally by bullion being smuggled out of the
-country; and had there not been some such inducement, few men would have
-cared to expatriate themselves, and live amid such uncomfortable
-surroundings.
-
-“Precisely similar principles were observed in all matters relating to
-government. Every office of profit under the crown, almost every
-emolument, however trivial, was reserved for persons of pure Spanish
-birth. As a consequence, the official class was migratory, and remained
-in the colonies no longer than was necessary to accumulate a fortune or
-a competence, according to the taste of each individual member of it.
-Though there were honest and honorable men to be found among them,
-notably those filling the most exalted positions, that did not prevent
-the vast majority from preying on the colonists, many of whom, by virtue
-of the grants of territory they had received, attained to great
-influence and wealth. Their descendants were, nevertheless, debarred
-from all participation in either the legislative or executive functions
-of government, though they might have nothing but the purest Spanish
-blood flowing in their veins. Nor could they become dignitaries of the
-Church without much difficulty. In the days when the Holy See found it
-politic to be on good terms with the Spanish sovereign, the whole
-ecclesiastical patronage of the New World was vested in him and his
-successors; and though many Popes endeavored to get this privilege back
-into their own hands, they always failed, and were compelled to confirm
-the nominations of the secular ruler. Both Mexico and Peru were rapidly
-overrun with clergy, secular as well as regular, and monastic
-establishments sprang up everywhere like mushrooms, yet preferment was
-always reserved for their brethren in Spain; and out of nearly four
-hundred bishops and archbishops consecrated up to the middle of the
-seventeenth century, scarce a dozen were taken from the Spanish-American
-community known as Creoles.
-
-“A system so rigid is bound to break. Federation is all very well and
-may accomplish much that is beneficial to all concerned. But its first
-condition is elasticity, so that every section within its embrace may
-enjoy full freedom of expansion. There must be no jealousies, no
-recriminations, and, above everything, no attempts to get all and give
-nothing. These conditions are possible under an arrangement entered into
-freely by all parties; they are unattainable when imposed by the strong
-upon the weak. That is why Spain never won the gratitude of its
-colonies, why each and every one eagerly seized the opportunity of
-throwing off the yoke, and fought desperately for independence, and why,
-to-day, her colonial power is ended.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE
-
-THE SUPREMACY OF SPAIN--ENCROACHMENTS OF OTHER NATIONS--CAUSES WHICH LED
-TO COLONIAL REVOLT--BIRTH OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS--INSURRECTIONS
-IN CUBA--ROBAMOS TODOS
-
-
-The population of Hayti at the advent of Columbus was estimated to have
-been a million, yet, before many years had elapsed, the colonists were
-forcibly depopulating the smaller islands to provide a supply of labor
-sufficient for their limited requirements. It was the people of the
-mainland who might have been expected and who actually did offer the
-stoutest resistance. No more wonderful campaign is recorded in military
-history than that conducted by Cortes against the Mexicans, and it may
-be doubted whether there was another man living who could have carried
-it to a successful issue.
-
-Conspicuous as a general, he was unmatched as a diplomatist, whether in
-dealing with his own soldiers, his allies, or his enemies. Who else in
-that age would have dreamed, after defeating the Tlascalans against
-fearful odds, of enlisting them against their deadly foes the Aztecs,
-and so humoring them that they never swerved in their loyalty? Or who
-could have traded on the superstition, of Montezuma, so as to gain
-complete control over his mind, and extract his treasures, valued at
-something like seven and a half million dollars, without a blow? But
-Montezuma once removed, the people, who had long been accustomed to
-render him an unquestioned obedience, and to submit themselves to his
-slightest command, were free to follow leaders who evinced more spirit;
-and the death of that monarch was speedily followed by the _noche
-triste_ with all its attendant horrors. To be captured alive, as many of
-the Spanish soldiers were, meant the most terrible of all ends, for they
-were hurried away to the temples, and their palpitating hearts torn from
-their living bodies, to be offered as a propitiation to the national
-deities. Yet even this did not disconcert Cortes and his brave
-adherents, who began immediately to concert another plan of campaign.
-The difficulties they had first encountered were as nothing compared to
-those they had still to face, for they had to deal with a victorious and
-determined foe, instead of a beaten and depressed one. Every obstacle,
-however, was overcome; and with the energetic assistance of allies, who
-little dreamed they were sealing their own doom and forever sacrificing
-their independence, the powerful and rich kingdom of Mexico was finally
-brought into complete subjection to the Castilian crown.
-
-Of totally different and vastly inferior fiber was the conqueror of
-Peru. Pizarro was without either education or address--a rough,
-ambitious, and avaricious soldier. He, too, was favored by internal
-dissensions, of which he could not possibly have known anything when he
-set forth on his errand. After a long period of peaceful and undisputed
-sway, the Inca dynasty was split by a feud between two brothers, one of
-whom, Atahualpa, had just asserted his superiority by force of arms,
-when the European conquerors appeared on the scene. A word from him, and
-not a man of them would have escaped alive. But at the critical moment
-an unaccountable paralysis overtook him, whether or not arising from a
-curiosity to see and interview the strangers it is impossible to say. He
-realized his danger too late, for Pizarro, imitating Cortes, seized the
-person of the Inca, and the rest was rendered comparatively easy.
-Accustomed, like Montezuma, to exact unqualified obedience, he employed
-his subjects in collecting his ransom instead of fighting for his
-deliverance; and when the debt was almost paid, he found himself doomed
-to death instead of released from captivity. The forces of the empire
-were then scattered, and without a leader who could assume full
-authority. Still, many a desperate bid was subsequently made for
-freedom, but each time with less prospect of success, as the conquerors
-secured a firmer grip upon the country, until the execution of Tapac
-Amara, the last direct descendant of the Incas, in 1571, left that
-solitude which Cæsar called peace.
-
-But after all it was not the opposition of the Indians, whether of the
-islands, of Mexico, or Peru, that proved the greatest danger to Spanish
-sovereignty. Enmity to Columbus, who was the accredited representative
-of the crown and legal governor of the Indies, did not necessarily infer
-enmity to the crown itself; indeed, those who rebelled against him were
-loud in their protestations of loyalty. Nevertheless, the turbulent
-factions fought for their own hand, and would have been equally opposed
-to any other governor who sought to place the necessary restraint upon
-their license. By permitting, and even compelling, many of the
-discontented to return home, as well as by the temporary removal of
-Columbus himself, something like quiet was restored; but it is more than
-probable that had not the colonists been largely dependent upon Spain
-for many necessaries, not excluding food, they would have cut themselves
-adrift and refused to submit to the exactions upon their industry, or
-rather upon that of the natives from which they profited. More than once
-in the early days, the home government had to stop cautiously, and
-commissions were dispatched to ascertain where the grievances lay, and
-if possible redress them. They were mostly connected with labor; the
-majority of the clergy, to their credit be it said, ranging themselves
-on the side of humanity, and using all their influence to obtain
-ordinances favorable to the natives. This difficulty was smoothed away
-to a great extent by the introduction of the African negro, which began
-as early as the year 1503.
-
-The followers of Cortes were remarkably loyal to him in prosperity and
-adversity alike; and though for a long time he was unaware how his
-proceedings would be received at court, he remained consistent in his
-devotion to his sovereign. His dispatches breathe an almost effusive
-submission to their will and interests, and only his enemies ever laid
-any charges against him, while his own actions too obviously refuted
-them. It was only when some of his officers were removed from his
-influence and intrusted with commissions of their own that they thought
-of kicking over the traces, and then it invariably happened that they
-were not in situations where any great harm could result. Mexico once
-subdued, long rendered the most willing obedience of any of the
-colonies, partly perhaps because under the direct influence of good and
-great viceroys, who acted both with intelligence and discretion.
-
-It was far otherwise in Peru, where the duplicity of Pizarro in
-excluding Almagro from his proper share in the governorship roused the
-suspicion, then the ire, and finally the opposition of that honest and
-gallant soldier. When Pizarro returned from his visit to Spain, he was
-either accompanied or immediately followed by several of his brothers,
-who, among them, formed a family compact for the protection and
-promotion of their own interests. To rid themselves of the rivalry of
-Almagro, they obtained for him the governorship of the country which now
-comprises the Republic of Chili. This, however, had still to be
-conquered, and the obstacles which presented themselves to the
-enterprise appeared so insurmountable that Almagro and his followers
-abandoned it and returned to Cuzco, the rich capital of Peru, which, the
-former maintained, fell within the latitude of the patent granted to
-him. This assertion was naturally contested by the Pizarros, and in the
-civil war that followed both Francisco Pizarro, the eldest and foremost
-of the brothers, and Almagro met with violent deaths. The Indians looked
-on with amazement at this strife between the white men, but failed to
-profit by it. Had they shown anything like the energy displayed in the
-warfare among themselves, or that of their Mexican brothers, they must
-inevitably have recaptured their kingdom, which it would have been
-extremely difficult to reconquer; but having allowed the golden
-opportunity to slip, it never again offered.
-
-But the most serious menace to the supremacy of Spain in the New World
-occurred shortly after the promulgation of the edicts of Charles V. in
-1542. The clauses guaranteeing the Indians their freedom, and protecting
-them against undue imposition, either of taxation or forced labor, were
-so obnoxious to the colonists that something like a general rising was
-threatened. The tact of the Mexican viceroy pacified those under his
-rule, but Peru experienced the full force of an armed rebellion with all
-its evil consequences. The leader in this instance was Gonzales Pizarro,
-who had inherited the immense estates conferred upon the family by a
-grateful sovereign, and who now undoubtedly aimed at establishing a
-separate kingdom with himself its supreme head. Fortunately, the right
-man was again sent from Spain to deal effectively with this uprising,
-and though a cleric, Vaca de Castro exhibited the skill of a general and
-the diplomacy of a statesman. With the execution of Gonzales, the last
-of the Pizarro brothers, peace was restored; and by the middle of the
-sixteenth century the various governments were so effectively
-consolidated that not for upward of a hundred and fifty years did any
-revolt, Indian or Creole, meet with more than temporary success.
-
-It was far otherwise with the Philippines, which have never been free
-for any length of time from disturbances of some kind. No effort indeed
-has ever been made to thoroughly subdue the turbulent natives; and there
-is no similar extent of territory under the control of a European
-government, about which so little is known regarding its natural
-resources and mineral wealth as the important islands of Luzon and
-Mindanao, which embrace half the total area of the archipelago. The
-principal ports have been strongly fortified, and reliance placed upon
-them to retain possession. The immunities enjoyed by the natives would,
-under ordinary circumstances, offer little inducement to revolt, but
-unfortunately the Philippines have from the very first been particularly
-subject to ecclesiastical influence and jurisdiction, and in its
-missionary and persecuting zeal the priesthood has made itself
-thoroughly obnoxious. The religious orders were the special object of
-animosity in the latest rising, and unless they are either suppressed or
-placed under more effective political control, there will be little
-prospect of peace in the islands.
-
-In an epoch when most of the nations of Europe are struggling to add to
-their territories in the remotest corners of the earth, it seems almost
-incredible that four centuries ago a single one of them should have been
-permitted to annex a whole continent unchallenged. It was not so much
-the Pope’s Bull that frightened competitors away as the fact that they
-were too deeply absorbed in their own affairs. The importunity of
-Columbus had to wear itself nearly out before the fortunate completion
-of the Moorish conquest won it a more ready ear; and most other
-countries were about the same time either engaged in, or just recovering
-from, some similar internecine strife. Moreover, it was the energy of
-private adventurers rather than of the Spanish crown which won for the
-latter a vast empire beyond the seas; nor was it until its value became
-plainly apparent that it was thought worth while to go to any great
-amount of trouble or expense in its development.
-
-Similarly, the first external enemies the Spanish colonies had to
-encounter were private and unattached adventurers. Piracy was an
-institution which had already flourished for many centuries. The Barbary
-corsairs were far more feared by the merchants of Venice and Genoa than
-the fiercest storms that ever visited the Mediterranean; and they had
-their counterpart in the Baltic, where the Hanseatic League carried on
-so extensive a commerce. It was only to be expected that they would
-sally forth from their inland seas when so much more valuable spoil was
-to be secured on the open ocean beyond, but strange to say, with the
-rapid decline of the trade which they had so long harried, their
-activity slackened, and their principles and profession were largely
-inherited by more civilized races. Some excuse was offered for this by
-the almost constant warfare that prevailed during the reign of Charles
-V., when France and Spain were at perpetual enmity, and England was
-found, first on one side, then on the other. The first important loss
-that befell Spain was the capture of the vessel conveying home the royal
-share of the treasures of Mexico by a French privateer, or pirate, as
-the Spaniards always preferred to call the ships which despoiled their
-fleets, a designation that was more often than not amply justified.
-
-To begin with, these pirate ships were content to hang about the Azores,
-on the chance of meeting a caravel laden with treasure homeward bound.
-They gradually ventured further west, until they actually arrived among
-the West Indian Islands, where they were surprised to find that
-altogether undreamed-of facilities awaited them for the pursuit of their
-nefarious trade. Though the entire archipelago belonged nominally to
-Spain, only the larger islands were actually occupied, the smaller not
-being regarded as worthy of attention, until the Indian population of
-Hispaniola, Cuba and Porto Rico began to fail, and then they were raided
-for their inhabitants to supply the vacant places. With a scanty Spanish
-population, it would have been utterly impossible to fortify and inhabit
-all, even had colonists been found so self-denying as to banish
-themselves to places where the only chance of accumulating wealth was by
-hard work and steady application to agricultural pursuits.
-
-For a long time these scattered islands were merely places of call,
-where fresh water and fruit could be obtained. No attempt was made at
-annexation in the name of any foreign power, and it would have been
-folly for any ship’s company, even had they been disposed to relinquish
-their buccaneering career, to settle down and defy the Spanish power,
-whose forces would quickly have been put in motion to expel them.
-
-Two events, designed by Philip II. to aggrandize the power of Spain at
-the expense of its neighbors, were eventually the means of arousing
-enmity against it to such an extent that the opposition of private
-adventurers was suddenly backed up by the full weight of the most
-rapidly progressing peoples and governments in the Old World.
-
-Many previous efforts had been made to unite the crowns of Spain and
-Portugal, but hitherto all had failed. The heroic death of Sebastian,
-however, in 1580, left the throne of Portugal without a direct heir, and
-among the numerous claimants was Philip, who overreached all his
-competitors. He was probably even then meditating that descent upon the
-liberties of England which resulted, eight years later, in the dispatch
-of the renowned Armada, and the writing of one of the most brilliant
-pages of English history. Success in the one instance, no less than
-failure in the other, created the most deadly foes that Spain ever had
-to encounter, until the persistent antagonism of Holland and England
-reduced it at last to a miserable shadow of its former self.
-
-Philip’s ruling passion was an intense bigotry, and from the moment he
-assumed sway in Spain and the Low Countries, he sought to exterminate
-every trace of the Reformed faith. That brought him into conflict with
-the Dutch, whose principal port and city of Amsterdam was fast
-concentrating within itself the trade that Bruges and Antwerp had once
-commanded as the principal marts of the Hanseatic League. As Portugal
-extended its conquests in the East, Lisbon displaced Venice and Genoa,
-and became the great emporium of all Eastern produce, whence Amsterdam
-drew its supplies for distribution throughout northern Europe. With the
-object, therefore, of destroying Dutch trade, Philip closed the port of
-Lisbon to it in 1594, fondly imagining that that would ruin his
-rebellious subjects, and enforce submission to his will.
-
-He had entirely mistaken Dutch character, however; for in the following
-year the services were enlisted of Cornelius Hautmann, who had been a
-pilot in the Portuguese service; and he conducted the first Dutch
-expedition round the Cape of Good Hope on its way to open up a direct
-trade with the Spice Islands and India, which of course had become the
-property of Spain along with its own Philippines. Thus modestly was laid
-the foundation of the Dutch Empire in the East Indies, and when Portugal
-regained its freedom in 1640, under the House of Braganza, it found
-itself stripped of most of its former colonies, which were never to be
-restored.
-
-Not content merely with retaining their former trade, the Dutch sought
-to extend it in other directions; and the incorporation of their East
-India Company in 1602 was followed by that of the West India Company in
-1621, the operations of which were to embrace the west coast of Africa
-as well as the whole of Spanish America, in which the Brazils had then
-to be included. They had been preceded many years earlier by the
-English, who commenced operations in good earnest some time before the
-date of the Armada; indeed, those two great figures in English naval
-history, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, had then already
-performed their greatest exploits. As early as 1572, the latter gave a
-good account of himself on the Spanish Main, but his most daring feat
-was accomplished in 1578, when he sailed through the Straits of Magellan
-and appeared off the coast of Peru. Francisco Draques was the terror of
-Spanish America, and his was the name used to frighten Spanish-American
-children when they were naughty.
-
-A new danger thus became apparent, as the Spaniards had never dreamed
-before of reaching their West Coast possessions by the southern route.
-Lest other foreign adventurers should follow in the wake, an expedition
-under Pedro Sarmiento was dispatched from Chili to explore the Straits
-and the adjoining territory, with the view, if practicable, of founding
-a strong colony and erecting substantial fortifications. Sarmiento’s
-zeal outran his discretion, and after accomplishing his task he sailed
-for Spain, where he gave an exaggerated account, not only of the danger
-of leaving the Straits unprotected, but of the ease with which they
-could be rendered impregnable to all unfriendly visitors. A colony
-consisting of about four hundred souls was actually sent out in 1528,
-though from the very first it met with nothing but dire misfortune.
-
-The captain-general commissioned to take charge of the undertaking,
-Diego Flores, disliked the job, and began by chartering the worst ships
-he could find. His lieutenant, Sarmiento, was more discreet in the
-choice of the embryo colonists, most of whom were skilled mechanics; but
-the fleet had scarcely left San Lucar on the outward voyage, when half
-of them were shipwrecked and drowned. Though replaced, disaster
-continued to follow upon disaster, the voyage being very much a
-repetition of the previous one made by Magellan, only in this instance
-the commander was himself the leading obstructionist. Eventually, rather
-more than two hundred souls sailed from the Bio de la Plata, and
-forty-five of these were drowned ere the Straits were reached. All but
-eight of the survivors subsequently perished, and the last of them was
-taken off in 1589 by the “Delight,” commanded by Sir John Cavendish, who
-appropriately named the spot where he found him “Port Famine.”
-
-The advent of the English and Dutch, followed half a century later by
-the French, led to the settlement of some of the unoccupied islands.
-They rapidly became something more than mere provisioning depots, though
-several of them, and notably the island of Tortuga, were nothing else
-than the lairs of desperate crews of pirates, as reckless of their own
-lives as of those who were unfortunate fall into their clutches. But
-Barbadoes and St. Christopher, St. Eustatius and Curaçoa, Martinique and
-Guadalupe, became the center of something more legitimate, if quite as
-illegal, as sinking galleons and purloining their treasure, though that
-business was never missed either when the opportunity presented itself;
-and the Dutch West India Company alone is said to have been responsible
-for the capture of between five and six hundred Spanish vessels.
-
-The English secured their first foothold in the neighborhood by
-occupying the Bermudas in 1621, though this hardly brought them into
-direct contact with the West Indies. This was speedily followed by
-settlements in some of the unoccupied islands further south. Barbadoes
-was taken possession of in 1625, and the same year St. Christopher, or
-St. Kitts, as it is now called, was divided between the English and
-French. The former continued to add to their territory, taking Nevis in
-1628, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632; and all these islands are so
-essentially English, as to prove conclusively that, although once
-nominally owned by Spain, Spanish influence was never exerted in them.
-
-From 1650 until the period of his death, Oliver Cromwell, having
-established his authority at home, pursued an active foreign policy, and
-it was only natural that he should find himself in conflict with Spain,
-whose maxims of government, both civil and religious, were so utterly
-at variance with his. Thus, in 1654, a somewhat formidable fleet, under
-the command of the admirals Penn and Venables, sailed for Barbadoes,
-where they would be ready for any emergency. Early the following year
-they made a descent upon Hispaniola, selecting the capital, San Domingo,
-as the object of attack. On the approach of the ships, the inhabitants,
-white and black alike, fled inland, but the affair was sadly mismanaged
-and somehow miscarried. Not wishing the expedition to prove a complete
-failure, the admirals set sail for the adjoining island of Jamaica,
-which did not then contain, at the outside, more than fifteen hundred
-whites, and perhaps as many blacks. This time, no difficulty was
-experienced, and the island was taken formal possession of, this being
-the first loss of occupied territory inflicted upon Spain, as well as
-the most important acquisition ever made in the West Indies by England.
-In 1658 the Spaniards attempted to drive the intruders out but failed,
-and in 1670 a treaty was entered into between the two countries, in
-which Spain recognized the rights of England both in Jamaica and the
-smaller islands of which possession had been previously taken.
-
-About this time, also, the French West India Company was incorporated,
-the brilliant finance minister of Louis XIV., Colbert, not liking to be
-without a hand in the game. He began in a more legitimate fashion than
-his competitors, and in 1664 purchased the rights of the settlers in
-Martinique, Guadalupe, St Lucia, Grenada, and a few other islands for
-about a million livres. Spanish tyranny, however, afforded an excuse for
-more high-handed proceedings, and the company secured a footing on the
-western side of Hispaniola, Spanish interests being concentrated almost
-entirely on the eastern. The settlements so established became little
-more than a rallying-point and shelter for buccaneers, who, in
-consequence of their roving habits, were difficult to eject, until
-eventually this intermittent occupation of a portion of the island
-induced France to lay claim to the whole, but the cession was only
-formally recognized by Spain more than a century later. Thus the four
-predominant powers of Europe all had a stake in the Western Hemisphere.
-
-Nearly a hundred and fifty years elapsed without witnessing any further
-important changes. The very vastness of the Spanish-American empire was
-its principal protection. Europe was growing thoroughly accustomed to
-immense armies, but they could only be moved on land, and there was no
-means for transporting them across the sea. What chance was there then
-of conquering a territory which extended uninterruptedly from California
-to Chili, and from Florida to the Rio de la Plata, even had there been
-much inclination? The idea, it is true, occurred more than once, and
-especially in 1702, when--the death of Charles II. of Spain having
-brought to an end the Hapsburg dynasty, and the Wars of the Spanish
-Succession being entered upon--an alliance was formed between England,
-Holland and the German Empire for the conquest of the Spanish colonies,
-but like others it came to nothing. Again, in 1739, Spain, alarmed at
-the growing contraband trade, insisted very justifiably on searching
-English ships in American waters, but this was resented and led to war,
-in which Porto Bello was captured; and that had something to do with the
-permission granted a few years later to trade by the longer, but safer
-and more convenient route round Cape Horn.
-
-Once more, in 1762, what was known as the Family Compact involved the
-rest of Europe in hostilities against the Bourbon dynasties in France,
-Spain, and Italy, and the war was carried both to the East and West
-Indies. Havana and Manila were captured by the English, and might have
-become English possessions, had not the Treaty of Paris, concluded in
-1763, brought the campaign to an end, and made it a condition that all
-colonial conquests were to be restored to their original owners. Minor
-changes were frequent and numerous, but they were generally a mere
-shuffling of the cards between England, Holland, and France, leaving the
-Spanish possessions much as they were.
-
-The eighteenth century, as it drew to its close, found the Spanish
-occupation of America almost as it had been in the first half of the
-seventeenth. Then a mighty upheaval was witnessed both in North America
-and Europe, and the War of Independence in the United States, together
-with the French Revolution, provide the sequel for what followed in
-South America. Scarcely a murmur was heard in the principal Spanish
-colonies while these great events were changing the destinies of the
-civilized world, and an onlooker who had time to think must have been
-astonished at their apparent loyalty to the mother country, oppressed
-though they had been, and still were, while everywhere else the blow for
-freedom was being struck. Perhaps another conclusion might have been
-arrived at; namely, that the ancient Spanish stock had so degenerated,
-and had become such a mean-spirited race, that it dare not act like its
-neighbors further north; but subsequent events disproved this
-hypothesis. The Girondists and the Mountain rose and fell; Napoleon
-became successively director, dictator, emperor--still no sign of
-movement. Then the moment arrived for the arch-disturber of Europe to
-overthrow the ancient monarchy of Spain, and to establish a brand-new
-one with his brother Joseph at its head. That was the supreme crisis to
-make a move, or forever to remain still. Spain almost to a man resented
-the affront. Spanish America joined the mother country, and refused to
-recognize the upstart dynasty.
-
-Still, in the midst of this death-like calm, some presages of the coming
-storm were discernible. In the first place, France, by the Treaty of
-Basle in 1795, secured the cession of the whole of Hispaniola, only,
-however, in a few years to lose it again by its declaration of
-independence, and the formation of a black republic. In the naval
-conflicts so frequent during that disturbed period England both lost and
-gained. The Dutch and Spanish were both unwilling confederates of
-Napoleon, but their connection with him, nevertheless, exposed their
-foreign possessions to the attack of his declared enemies; and England
-captured Demerara and Essequibo in Guiana from the former, and the
-island of Trinidad from the latter. All these were trivial acquisitions,
-compared with the vast extent of Mexico and Central America, Peru, and
-New Granada, and the eastern province of Buenos Ayres. Brazil had
-reverted to Portugal with the firm establishment of the Braganza
-dynasty, and was nearly all there was left of its once great colonial
-empire. In March, 1808, the ill fortune of the royal family drove them
-from their own kingdom to find refuge beyond the seas, and Brazil became
-an independent empire under the fugitive Portuguese sovereign, whose
-descendants remained in peaceable and prosperous possession until the
-revolution which dethroned the late ill-fated Dom Pedro.
-
-These changes were due entirely to foreign intervention and not to
-domestic unrest. The first sign of this was when Francisco Miranda, a
-Spanish-American who had fought under Washington, conceived the idea of
-freeing his fellow-countrymen, and took steps toward that end by
-founding a “Gran Reunion Americana” in London in 1806. But so
-unresponsive were the inhabitants of the Spanish Main that the first
-active movement of the league resulted in dead failure. It attracted the
-sympathy and support, however, of two active and capable men, Bolivar
-and San Martin, who were destined to do so much for the emancipation of
-South America from European bondage, and whose advent brought a rapid
-change in the feeling of indifference with which the movement was
-regarded.
-
-Still, the loyalty of the colonists might have been proof against their
-blandishments had the government of Ferdinand VII., established at Cadiz
-in opposition to that of Joseph Bonaparte, shown itself in any way
-conciliatory toward them. Loyal though the Spaniards at home were to the
-Bourbon dynasty, they were only willing to rally round it on condition
-of the carrying out of many important reforms in consonance with the
-spirit of the age; and the colonists likewise demanded that, as the
-price of their adhesion, they should be put upon an equality with Spain,
-and be accorded perfect liberty in their agricultural and manufacturing
-industries; that trade should be thrown open between all the countries
-on the American Continent and with the Philippines; and that all
-restrictions and monopolies should be abolished, and fixed duties
-substituted in their place. Reasonable though these demands now appear,
-they were indignantly rejected, and with one consent nearly every
-country in Spanish America was ablaze with revolution.
-
-One of the earliest outbreaks was in Mexico, the near proximity of the
-United States having perhaps inspired in that country a more intense
-longing for freedom than elsewhere. A small band of patriots had for
-some time been watching an opportunity for asserting themselves, and
-with Hidalgo and Allende at their head, took the extreme step of issuing
-a declaration of independence on the 16th of September, 1810. Spanish
-influence was still strong; and in less than a year the outbreak was
-suppressed, and the leaders executed. Others rose to take their places,
-and just three years after the declaration of independence, the first
-Mexican Congress was summoned to meet at the town of Chilpantzongo,
-which was in the hands of the insurgents. Morelos, the principal actor
-at this stage of the drama, was captured and shot in December, 1815; but
-that only imposed a temporary check on the movement. In the delusive
-hope of regaining full control, Ferdinand, then firmly re-established on
-his throne, offered concessions in 1820, but it was too late, and they
-failed to effect a pacification. Independence was once more declared in
-1821, but this time at the instigation of a dictator who aimed at
-founding an empire for himself, and who did for a short period sway the
-destinies of his country as the Emperor Iturbide I. His reign was
-brief, and a republic was definitely established on the 16th of
-December, 1823, the subsequent career of which has been so checkered
-until quite recent times. Having been recognized by the principal courts
-of Europe, Spain itself accredited an embassador in 1839, and made no
-further efforts to reassert its former title.
-
-Elsewhere the struggle was less prolonged, though, while it lasted,
-quite as exciting. At the instigation of Bolivar, Venezuela proclaimed
-its independence in July, 1811, and several years later united with New
-Granada as the Republic of Colombia. Buenos Ayres established a junta in
-1810, a Constituent Assembly was called in January, 1813, and entire
-independence of Spain was declared, July, 1816. The insurrection in
-Chili likewise began in 1810, when a National Congress was summoned to
-meet at Santiago; but the Spanish interest was strong on the west coast,
-and it was not until San Martin crossed the Andes from La Plata in 1817
-that independence was made good. Material assistance was afforded by the
-famous Admiral Cochrane (Lord Dundonald), who, driven in disgrace from
-his native country, placed his services at the disposal of the revolting
-Chilians, and gave them that naval pre-eminence in South America which
-they have ever since retained.
-
-Peru proved an even tougher job, but the combined forces of San Martin
-and Cochrane proved irresistible, and both Lima and Callao were taken in
-1821. Lima, however, was recaptured by the Spaniards in 1823, but
-Bolivar, marching against it from Colombia, was appointed dictator, and
-gained so decisive a victory in 1824 that the Spanish army was forced
-to capitulate, and by 1826 the connection with the mother country was
-completely and finally severed. Spain had vainly striven against these
-successive misfortunes, and in 1815 sent out a considerable force under
-Marshal Morillo, who gained a few temporary successes; but his cruelties
-and atrocious conduct only exasperated the colonists, and instigated
-them to greater exertions. The various countries of Central America were
-quietly federated into the Republic of Guatemala in 1823, in the absence
-of any Spanish troops to oppose; and thus, from the northern borders of
-Mexico to the southern confines of Chili and La Plata, the conquerors of
-the New World were forever ejected. England was the first to recognize
-the South American republics, and entered into commercial treaties with
-several of them in 1825, after which date Spain can no longer be said to
-have been able to claim ownership of a single acre on the American
-Continent.
-
-Meanwhile of a once vast colonial empire but Cuba and Porto Rico
-remained. What were the forces at work which there prevented secession?
-
-The political economist Mr. R. J. Root, to whom and to whose work on
-this subject we are already much indebted, states that the conditions
-were different. The predominant feature of the islands was negro
-slavery, whereas the wealth of the Spanish-American colonist lay in
-lands which, if subject to alienation, were at least impossible of
-removal. The Cuban planter reckoned as his most precious possession the
-flesh and blood attached to his estates, and the very words “freedom”
-and “independence” stank in his nostrils. Whatever inconvenience,
-therefore, he suffered from his political connection with an effete
-monarchy and a decaying or decayed empire, he at least felt that, while
-he clung to it, it would afford him protection for his property.
-
-A steady flood of immigration from the mother country maintained this
-connection down to the recent war. The wealthiest merchants and planters
-have invariably been of pure Spanish blood, and their contempt for the
-Cuban Creoles, though many of them are as pure-blooded as themselves,
-and have no taint whatever of the “tar-brush,” has helped to maintain
-them as a separate class, regarded as intruders by all of Cuban birth,
-and hated accordingly. They have of necessity invoked Spanish aid and
-relied on Spanish authority, and have, for nearly a hundred years,
-provided the basis for Spanish rule in the island. Many of them made
-their fortunes and returned home, leaving room for others to follow.
-Some made Cuba their permanent domicile, but invariably with fatal
-effects upon their offspring, for Cuban birth is almost synonymous with
-Cuban sympathies, and, in any rising, the father, who has been on the
-side of the crown, has witnessed his sons throwing in their lot with the
-rebels.
-
-Ever since the emancipation of the Spanish Main, Cuba has been in a
-state of political unrest. Various secret societies have been
-constituted, and have received advice and assistance from Mexicans,
-Chilians, and others who had already succeeded in throwing off their own
-fetters. In 1823 the Society of Soles struck a blow for liberty; six
-years later it was the Company of the Black Eagle which attempted
-success where its predecessor had failed. Both were essentially Creole
-risings, and although those who participated in them freely gave
-expression to their abhorrence of slavery, no assistance was either
-asked or received from the negroes. For these unfortunates, however,
-failure meant the tightening of their bonds; and it is not surprising to
-find that, in 1844, goaded to despair by their sufferings, they tried an
-insurrection on their own account, though of course it ended
-disastrously.
-
-These outbreaks were all more or less localized, and it was not until
-1868 that a revolution broke out, destined to involve the entire island,
-and to occupy long and weary years in suppressing, if, indeed, the
-smoking embers can be said ever to have been quenched. It was
-undoubtedly instigated by the American Civil War, which had ended in the
-uncompromising abolition of slavery, and so raised the hopes of the
-friends of liberty in Cuba. Though the planters and slave-owners ranged
-themselves, as was natural, on the side of law and order, their
-enthusiasm was no longer of the keenest. They realized that the
-institution to which they clung so tenaciously was doomed, and it became
-a question with them of doing the best they could for themselves.
-Emancipation in the British West Indies had for a time added enormously
-to their prosperity, until the value of slaves underwent so great an
-appreciation that it no longer became profitable to purchase them, and
-only actual owners derived any benefit. For, it must be remembered,
-there was a distinct difference between the slave-trade and slavery, and
-long after public opinion revolted against, and prohibited the
-kidnapping and traffic in human flesh, it continued to tolerate its
-ownership, and recognized natural increase as legitimate property. That
-African negroes were smuggled into Cuba is tolerably certain;
-nevertheless, the numbers were too small to prevent the gradual increase
-in value of an able-bodied male slave from $250 to something like $1,750
-or $2,000. This was the surest means of eventual abolition; for while
-this high price set upon the black made him valuable property, and
-insured his better treatment, it tended to make the luxury too costly,
-and one that could eventually no longer be indulged in, as the point
-must be reached where free labor would become cheaper.
-
-About the time of the rebellion, the number of slaves in Cuba was
-between 350,000 and 400,000, and their value on paper was simply
-enormous. The $100,000,000 voted by the British Parliament as
-compensation to the disinherited slave-owners in the British West Indies
-would have been but a drop in the ocean in any scheme for Cuban
-emancipation by purchase. Indeed, to do the planters justice, they never
-expected anything of the sort, and all the more practical of them asked,
-was to be let down gently. This was effected by the proclamation of what
-was known as the Moret Law in 1870, which at once declared free all
-slaves over sixty years of age, and decreed that every child born after
-that year should be free likewise. In the first instance, the planters
-registered a distinct gain, as they got rid of a number of old and
-decrepit dependants no longer fit for work; but this was offset by the
-compulsory maintenance, until their eighteenth year, of all the free
-offspring of their slaves. Under this law, the odious institution
-perished in something like twenty years, because its burdens gradually
-outweighed its benefits, until the low wage for which the free negro is
-willing to work became the more economical method of production.
-
-Thus the strongest tie between Spain and Cuba was snapped, and the party
-of independence gained force, as many planters found no longer any
-advantage in supporting the authority of the crown. The rebellion
-dragged on; the Spanish troops continually poured in having to encounter
-the guerrilla warfare, for which the division of the island afforded so
-many opportunities. For, considerable though the population is,
-two-thirds of it has always been concentrated in the western corner, of
-which Havana is the capital, the remaining districts being very sparsely
-peopled. It is in these rebellion always throve; and the policy adopted
-by General Weyler, when in supreme command, was to make them a desert by
-destroying all sustenance, and forcibly removing the inhabitants, who,
-under the name of Reconcentrados, aroused so much sympathy.
-
-Though the outbreak of 1868 was eventually suppressed, it left a legacy
-of bitter memories and still bitterer exactions. For, true to its policy
-of four centuries, Spain determined that it at least would not be a
-loser, and saddled the entire cost of the military operations, and
-nobody knows what else besides, on the unfortunate island, in the form
-of a debt amounting to about four hundred million dollars. Even this
-might have been tolerated had any attempt been made to establish an
-equitable system of government, because an era of prosperity set in
-which culminated in 1891, when the total exports were valued at no less
-than $100,000,000, and there was ample margin for interest on an
-inflated debt. But the rapacity of Catalan manufacturers, no less than
-of government officials, upset everything; and from the captain-general
-down to the humblest trader in Barcelona, all expected to pocket
-something out of the spoils of Cuba. Nor was the plunder limited to
-Spaniards. Despite the restrictions against trading by foreigners,
-adventurers of all nationalities managed to get a foothold in Havana,
-and corruption preyed on corruption. No one, in fact, was expected to be
-honest, and a stranger remarking upon the rascality prevailing in high
-places, would as likely as not be met with a shrug of the shoulders and
-the reply, Robamos todos, “We are all thieves.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE PHILIPPINES
-
-THE FIRST JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD--FERDINAND MAGELLAN--THE MOLUCCAS--THE
-ISLANDS OF THE PAINTED FACES--MANILA AND THE CHINESE--THE BRITISH
-INVASION--SPANISH RULE
-
-
-While Spain was actively engaged in exploration and annexation in the
-west, Portugal was equally busy in the east. Though the Cape of Good
-Hope had been doubled by Diaz in 1486, it was not until 1497, five years
-after the discovery of America, that Vasco da Gama proved the
-possibility of reaching India by that route. Rapid progress, for those
-days at any rate, was made from that time. The actual neighborhood of
-the Cape apparently offered no attractions; the advantages of its
-situation were left to be realized by the Dutch a century later; and it
-was not until Natal was reached on Christmas day, whence its name, that
-there were any thoughts of annexation or settlement. It was the East
-Coast of Africa which seemed to offer the greatest facilities for
-communication and trading with the opposite shores of India, and claimed
-attention accordingly; and as numerous pilots were to be found there,
-skilled in navigating vessels across the Indian Ocean, it was there
-colonies were first established, one of which at least, and the only
-important one remaining to Portugal, Lorenzo Marques, has been the
-object of envy, and the source of much contention in recent years.
-
-From the Malabar coast in the south to Karachi in the north of India,
-Portuguese traders grew active, but, owing to the fierceness and
-determination of the natives, it was found impossible for some years to
-permanently occupy any territory, until Goa was established in 1510, as
-the center of Portuguese interests. A year earlier than this, Malacca
-had been subjugated, and the exploration of Sumatra undertaken; while
-three years later, Francisco Serrao discovered the Moluccas, the
-far-famed islands from which Venice and Genoa had so long drawn their
-stores of valuable spices by the overland route through India and
-Persia, or by the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez. To divert this traffic
-round the Cape of Good Hope, expeditions were fitted out against Muscat
-and Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, and Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea.
-While, then, the Spanish colonists were searching for gold in sufficient
-quantities to make the enterprise pay, much less realize fortunes, the
-Portuguese tapped the source of wealth of the great mercantile
-communities of the Middle Ages; and, monopolizing it themselves,
-rendered their country for a time the richest in the world.
-
-Of the numerous governors dispatched by Portugal to the east, the Duke
-of Albuquerque was the most active, and accomplished the greatest
-results. Serving under him in various capacities was Ferrao Magalhaes,
-or Maghallanes, a young nobleman who sought on every possible occasion
-to distinguish himself. Returning home, he did not receive the reward he
-considered his due; and though he continued to agitate at court, and to
-urge his claims, on the further ground that since his arrival from the
-east he had taken part in an African campaign, and been permanently
-lamed, he was either repulsed or put off with some trifling concession.
-This rankling in his mind, he determined to divest himself of his
-nationality, and offer his services to Spain, the patron of all foreign
-adventurers.
-
-By the Papal Bull, Spain was debarred from undertaking any enterprise in
-the East. This was, of course, well known to Magalhaes, or Ferdinand
-Magellan, as he now chose to call himself, but he had carefully thought
-the matter out, and arrived at a conclusion of his own. He had heard
-much of the ideas which led to the discovery of America, and though
-other and more important matters then engaged the attention of Spain
-than the discovery of Japan and China by the western route, he still
-considered the plan feasible. He intimated to the Emperor Charles V.,
-then king of Spain, his desire to be intrusted with an expedition, with
-which he would undertake to reach the Moluccas from the west, and so
-prove that they belonged by right to Spain.
-
-News of this treachery reached Portugal, where it was heard with the
-greatest indignation, and an angry correspondence passed between the two
-courts. Charles’s ambitions, however, lay in European aggrandizement,
-for which the demands upon his exchequer were heavier than he well knew
-how to meet. His great possessions in the New World had hitherto been a
-drain upon his scanty resources, as they had been upon those of his
-grandfather before him; and although Ferdinand lived for a quarter of a
-century after the discovery of America, he left hardly sufficient money
-in his coffers to pay his funeral expenses. Charles, therefore, listened
-eagerly to the proposition by which he might acquire the teeming riches
-of the Spice Islands, and, notwithstanding protests and warnings alike,
-terms were finally agreed to in March, 1518, which placed five ships,
-and a full complement of men, at the disposal of Magellan. Failing any
-other means of putting an end to the enterprise, a plot was formed for
-the assassination of Magellan, but miscarried; and he weighed anchor on
-the 10th of August, 1519, though delayed in his actual departure until
-the 20th of September following.
-
-Instructions were sent to the Brazils, already occupied by Portugal, to
-waylay Magellan, and at all costs prevent the continuance of his voyage;
-and in case he eluded the vigilance of the governor of that settlement,
-a strict watch was to be kept at the Moluccas, and no quarter given him
-if he ever reached there, as he was declared a traitor to the crown of
-Portugal. He arrived at the Rio de la Plata unmolested, and entered that
-river, of great width at its mouth and for some distance along its
-course, with the idea that it offered the long-sought passage to the
-West. The increasing freshness of the water convinced him that it was
-but a river, and he returned and moved his course southward. And now his
-real difficulties began. Winter was setting in with all its rigor, and
-the further south he proceeded the more severe became the weather. His
-crew was most cosmopolitan in character and nationality, and included a
-number of Portuguese, some of whom, it began to be suspected,--had been
-bribed to mutiny, if not indeed to murder their commander. Dissensions
-broke out among the captains of the different vessels on petty points of
-precedence and discipline; and only the most determined stand by
-Magellan himself, who did not hesitate to hang several of the crew as an
-example to the rest, prevented the total ruin of his hopes and plans.
-
-To make matters worse, scarcity of provisions began to be experienced,
-and it was then decided to winter in the shelter of the river St.
-Julian. It was in October, 1520, before a fresh start could be made, and
-on the 21st of that month a channel was discovered, the careful
-navigation of which for thirty-eight days, amid shoals and innumerable
-islands, brought them, amid great rejoicing, once more into the open
-sea, proving the theory maintained by Columbus to his dying day to be so
-far, at any rate, correct.
-
-But Magellan, like all his predecessors, sadly miscalculated the
-distance between the remote East and the far West, and after taking in
-such supplies of provisions as were obtainable, renewed his voyage with
-a light heart, and in full expectation of reaching land in a week or two
-at longest. Days grew into weeks, and the weeks passed into months, and
-still no break on the monotonous horizon. The sufferings of the crew
-were horrible, as food and water became gradually exhausted, and they
-had to subsist at last by gnawing anything into which they could get
-their teeth. To turn back was certain destruction, as they could not
-possibly last out the time necessary to cover the distance already
-traversed. To go forward, therefore, was their only chance of salvation;
-and after a passage of ninety-eight days land was sighted on March 18,
-and the most dreaded of their dangers passed. They had sailed into a
-group of islands, not the Moluccas as they had anticipated, but the
-Islas de las Pintados; so called from the custom of the natives of
-painting or tattooing their naked bodies, and subsequently re-christened
-the Philippines, in honor of the heir to the Spanish throne, who
-afterward reigned as Philip II.
-
-Magellan was not destined to reap the fruits of his enterprise, nor to
-suffer the punishment subsequently inflicted on some of the survivors.
-He found the natives among whom he first landed friendly disposed, but
-rightly suspected them of treachery. Desirous, however, of conciliating
-them as far as possible, he entered into their quarrel with a tribe in a
-neighboring island, and, in the attack which he led against it, was
-slain.
-
-Disputes arose as to who should succeed to the command; and what was
-left of the fleet, after many adventures and the loss of a considerable
-number of the crew, arrived at the island of Tidor in the Moluccas on
-the 8th of November, 1521. There it was decided that the “Victoria”
-should load a cargo of spices and make its way to Spain by the Cape of
-Good Hope, in direct defiance of the rights of the Portuguese, while the
-“Trinidad” should return the way she came. A valuable cargo, consisting
-of about twenty-six tons of cloves, with parcels of cinnamon, sandal
-wood, and nutmegs, was shipped, and after being nearly captured by the
-Portuguese off the African coast, and again at the Canaries, arrived in
-the harbor of San Lucar, as was supposed, on the 6th of September, 1522,
-having sailed round the world in three years all but a few days.
-Through all their troubles, a careful record of dates had been kept, and
-the officers were surprised to find that what they imagined to be the
-6th was actually the 7th of September in Seville; and they were at a
-loss to know how the one day had been missed, being of course unaware
-that this is the invariable result of circumnavigating the world from
-East to West.
-
-Of the total number of two hundred and eighty hands originally shipped,
-only a remnant remained, of whom seventeen, together with the captain,
-Juan Sebastian Elcano, were on board the “Victoria.”
-
-The city of Seville received them with acclamation; but their first act
-was to walk barefooted, in procession, holding lighted candles in their
-hands, to the church, to give thanks to the Almighty for their safe
-deliverance from the hundred dangers which they had encountered.
-Clothes, money, and all necessaries were supplied to them by royal
-bounty, and Elcano and the most intelligent of his companions were cited
-to appear at court to narrate their adventures. His Majesty received
-them with marked deference. Elcano was rewarded with a life pension of
-five hundred ducats (worth at that date about five hundred and sixty
-dollars), and as a lasting remembrance of his unprecedented feat, his
-royal master knighted him and conceded to him the right of using on his
-escutcheon a globe bearing the motto: “Primus circundedit me.”
-
-Two of Elcano’s officers, Miguel de Rodas and Francisco Alva, were each
-awarded a life pension of fifty thousand maravedis (worth at that time
-about seventy dollars), while the king ordered one-fourth of that fifth
-part of the cargo, which by contract with Maghallanes belonged to the
-State Treasury, to be distributed among the crew, including those
-imprisoned in Santiago Island.
-
-Meanwhile the “Trinidad” was repaired in Tidor and on her way to Panama,
-when continued tempests and the horrible sufferings of the crew
-determined them to retrace their course to the Moluccas. In this
-interval Portuguese ships had arrived there, and a fort was being
-constructed to defend Portuguese interests against the Spaniards, whom
-they regarded as interlopers. The “Trinidad” was seized, and the
-captain, Espinosa, with the survivors of his crew, were afforded a
-passage to Lisbon, which place they reached five years after they had
-set out with Maghallanes.
-
-The enthusiasm of King Charles was equal to the importance of the
-discoveries which gave renown to his subjects and added glory to his
-crown. Notwithstanding a protracted controversy with the Portuguese
-court, which claimed the exclusive right of trading with the Spice
-Islands, he ordered another squadron of six ships to be fitted out for a
-voyage to the Moluccas. The supreme command was confided to Garcia Yofre
-de Loaisa, Knight of St. John, while Sebastian Elcano was appointed
-captain of one of the vessels. After passing through the Magellan
-Straits, the commander, Loaisa, succumbed to the fatigues and privations
-of the stormy voyage. Elcano succeeded him, but only for four days, when
-he too expired. The expedition, however, arrived safely at the Molucca
-Islands, where they found the Portuguese in full possession and strongly
-established; but the long series of combats, struggles and altercations
-which ensued between the rival powers, in which Captain Andres de
-Urdaneta prominently figured, left no decisive advantage to either
-nation.
-
-But the king was in no way disheartened. A third expedition--the last
-under his auspices--was organized and dispatched from the Pacific coast
-of Mexico by the viceroy, by royal mandate. It was composed of two
-ships, two transports and one galley, well manned and armed, chosen from
-the fleet of Pedro Alvarado, late governor of Guatemala. Under the
-leadership of Ruy Lopez do Villalobos it sailed on the 1st of November,
-1542; discovered many small islands in the Pacific; lost the galley on
-the way, and anchored off an island about twenty miles in circumference,
-which was named Antonia. They found its inhabitants very hostile. A
-fight ensued, but the natives finally fled, leaving several Spaniards
-wounded, of whom six died. Villalobos then announced his intention of
-remaining here some time, and ordered his men to plant maize. At first
-they demurred, saying that they had come to fight, not to till land, but
-at length necessity urged them to obedience, and a small but
-insufficient crop was reaped in due season. Hard pressed for food, they
-lived principally on cats, rats, lizards, snakes, dogs, roots and wild
-fruit, and several died of disease. In this plight a ship was sent to
-Mindanao Island, commanded by Bernado de la Torre, to seek provisions.
-The voyage was fruitless. The party was opposed by the inhabitants, who
-fortified themselves, but were dislodged and slain. Then a vessel was
-commissioned to Mexico with news and to solicit re-enforcements. On the
-way, Volcano Island (of the Ladrone Islands group) was discovered on the
-6th of August, 1543. A most important event followed. A galiot was
-built and dispatched to the islands (it is doubtful which), named by
-this expedition the Philippine Islands in honor of Philip, Prince of
-Asturias, the son of King Charles I., heir apparent to the throne of
-Castile, to which he ascended in 1555 under the title of Philip II., on
-the abdication of his father.
-
-The craft returned from the Philippine Islands laden with abundance of
-provisions, with which the ships were enabled to continue the voyage.
-
-By the royal instructions, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos was strictly enjoined
-not to touch at the Molucca Islands, peace having been concluded with
-Portugal. Heavy gales forced him, nevertheless, to take refuge at
-Gilolo. The Portuguese, suspicious of his intentions in view of the
-treaty, arrayed their forces against his, inciting the king of the
-island also to discard all Spanish overtures and refuse assistance to
-Villalobos. The discord and contentions between the Portuguese and
-Spaniards were increasing; nothing was being gained by either party.
-Villalobos personally was sorely disheartened in the struggle, fearing
-all the while that his opposition to the Portuguese in contravention of
-the royal instructions would only excite the king’s displeasure and lead
-to his own downfall. Hence he decided to capitulate with his rival and
-accepted a safe conduct for himself and party to Europe in Portuguese
-ships. They arrived at Amboina Island, where Villalobos, already crushed
-by grief, succumbed to disease. The survivors of the expedition, among
-whom were several priests, continued the journey home via Malacca,
-Cochin-China and Goa, where they embarked for Lisbon, arriving there in
-1549.
-
-In 1558, King Charles was no more, but the memory of his ambition
-outlived him. His son Philip, equally emulous and unscrupulous, was too
-narrow-minded and subtly cautious to initiate an expensive enterprise
-encompassed by so many hazards--as materially unproductive as it was
-devoid of immediate political importance. Indeed the basis of the first
-expedition was merely to discover a western route to the rich Spice
-Islands, already known to exist; the second went there to attempt to
-establish Spanish empire; and the third to search for and annex to the
-Spanish crown lands as wealthy as those claimed by and now yielded to
-the Portuguese.
-
-But the value of the Philippine Islands, of which the possession was but
-recent and nominal, was thus far a matter of doubt.
-
-One of the most brave and intrepid captains of the Loaisa
-expedition--Andres de Urdaneta--returned to Spain in 1536. In former
-years he had fought under King Charles I., in his wars in Italy, when
-the study of navigation served him as a favorite pastime. Since his
-return from the Moluccas his constant attention was given to the project
-of a new expedition to the Far West, for which he unremittingly
-solicited the royal sanction and assistance. But the king had grown old
-and weary of the world, and, while he did not openly discourage
-Urdaneta’s pretensions, he gave him no effective aid. At length in 1553,
-two years before Charles abdicated, Urdaneta, convinced of the futility
-of his importunity at the Spanish court, and equally unsuccessful with
-his scheme in other quarters, retired to Mexico, where he took the habit
-of an Augustine monk. Ten years afterward, King Philip, inspired by the
-religious sentiment which pervaded his whole policy, urged his viceroy
-in Mexico to fit out an expedition to conquer and Christianize the
-Philippine Islands. Urdaneta, now a priest, was not overlooked.
-Accompanied by five priests of his order, he was intrusted with the
-spiritual care of the races to be subdued by an expedition composed of
-four ships and one frigate well armed, carrying four hundred soldiers
-and sailors, commanded by a Basque navigator, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.
-This remarkable man was destined to acquire the fame of having
-established Spanish dominion in these islands. He was of noble birth and
-a native of the province of Guipuzcoa in Spain. Having settled in the
-City of Mexico, of which place he was elected mayor, he there practiced
-as a notary. Of undoubted piety, he enjoyed a reputation for his justice
-and loyalty, hence he was appointed general of the forces equipped for
-the voyage.
-
-The favorite desire to possess the valuable Spice Islands still lurked
-in the minds of many Spaniards--among them was Urdaneta, who labored in
-vain to persuade the viceroy of the superior advantages to be gained by
-annexing New Guinea instead of the Philippines--whence the conquest of
-the Moluccas would be but a facile task. However, the viceroy was
-inexorable and resolved to fulfill the royal instructions to the letter;
-so the expedition set sail from the Mexican port of Navidad for the
-Philippine Islands on the 21st of November, 1564.
-
-The Ladrone Islands were passed on the 9th of January, 1565, and on the
-13th of the following month the Philippines were sighted. A call for
-provisions was made at several small islands, including Camiguin, whence
-the expedition sailed to Bojol Island. A boat dispatched to the port of
-Butuan returned in a fortnight with the news that there was much gold,
-wax and cinnamon in that district. A small vessel was also sent to Cebu,
-and on its return reported that the natives showed hostility, having
-decapitated one of the crew while he was bathing.
-
-Nevertheless, General Legaspi resolved to put in at Cebu, which was a
-safe port; and on the way there the ships anchored off Limasana Island
-(to the south of Leyte). Thence, running S.W., the port of Dapitan
-(Mindanao Island) was reached.
-
-Prince Pagbuaya, who ruled there, was astonished at the sight of such
-formidable ships, and commissioned one of his subjects, specially chosen
-for his boldness, to take note of their movements and report to him. His
-account was uncommonly interesting. He related that enormous men with
-long pointed noses, dressed in fine robes, ate stones (hard biscuits),
-drank fire and blew smoke out of their mouths and through their
-nostrils. Their power was such that they commanded thunder and lightning
-(discharge of artillery), and that at meal times they sat down at a
-clothed table. From their lofty port, their bearded faces and rich
-attire, they might have been the very gods manifesting themselves to the
-natives; so the prince thought it wise to accept the friendly overtures
-of such marvelous strangers. Besides obtaining ample provisions in
-barter for European wares, Legaspi procured from this chieftain much
-useful information respecting the condition of Cebu. He learned that it
-was esteemed a powerful kingdom, of which the magnificence was much
-vaunted among the neighboring states; that the port was one of great
-safety and the most favorably situated among the islands of the painted
-faces.
-
-The general resolved therefore to filch it from its native king and
-annex it to the crown of Castile.
-
-He landed in Cebu on the 27th of April, 1565, and negotiations were
-entered into with the natives of that island. Remembering how
-successfully they had rid themselves of Maghallanes’ party, they
-naturally opposed this renewed menace to their independence. The
-Spaniards occupied the town by force and sacked it, but for months were
-so harassed by the surrounding tribes that a council was convened to
-discuss the prudence of continuing the occupation. The general decided
-to remain, and, little by little, the natives yielded to the new
-condition of things, and thus the first step toward the final conquest
-was achieved. The natives were declared Spanish subjects, and hopeful
-with the success thus far attained, Legaspi determined to send
-dispatches to the king by the priest Urdaneta, who safely arrived at
-Navidad on the 3d of October, 1565, and proceeded thence to Spain.
-
-The pacification of Cebu and the adjacent islands was steadily and
-successfully pursued by Legaspi; the confidence of the natives was
-assured, and their dethroned king Tupas accepted Christian baptism,
-while his daughter married a Spaniard.
-
-In the midst of the invaders’ felicity, the Portuguese arrived to
-dispute the possession, but they were compelled to retire. A fortress
-was constructed and plots of land were marked out for the building of
-the Spanish settlers’ residences, and finally, in 1570, Cebu was
-declared a city, after Legaspi had received from his royal master the
-title of governor-general of all the lands which he might be able to
-conquer.
-
-In May, 1570, Captain Juan Salcedo, Legaspi’s grandson, was dispatched
-to the Island of Luzon to reconnoiter the territory and bring it under
-Spanish dominion.
-
-The history of these early times is very confused, and there are many
-contradictions in the authors of the Philippine chronicles, none of
-which seems to have been written contemporaneously with the first
-events. It appears, however, that Martin de Goiti and a few soldiers
-accompanied Salcedo to the north. They were well received by the native
-chiefs or petty kings Lacandola, rajah of Tondo (known as Rajah Matanda,
-which means in native dialect the aged rajah), and his nephew, the young
-Rajah Soliman of Manila.
-
-The sight of a body of European troops, armed as was the custom in the
-sixteenth century, must have profoundly impressed and overawed these
-chieftains, otherwise it seems almost incredible that they should have
-consented, without protest, or attempt at resistance, to (forever) give
-up their territory, yield their independence, pay tribute,[8] and become
-the tools of invading foreigners with which to conquer their own race,
-without recompense whatsoever.
-
-A treaty of peace was signed and ratified by an exchange of drops of
-blood between the parties thereto. Soliman, however, soon repented of
-his poltroonery, and raised the war-cry among some of his tribes. To
-save his capital (then called Maynila) falling into the hands of the
-invaders he set fire to it. Lacandola remained passively watching the
-issue. Soliman was completely routed by Salcedo, and pardoned on his
-again swearing fealty to the King of Spain. Goiti remained in the
-vicinity of Manila with his troops, while Salcedo fought his way to the
-Bombon Lake (Taal) district. The present Batangas Province was subdued
-by him and included in the jurisdiction of Mindoro Island. During the
-campaign, Salcedo was severely wounded by an arrow and returned to
-Manila.
-
-Legaspi was in the Island of Panay when Salcedo (some writers say Goiti)
-arrived to advise him of what had occurred in Luzon. They at once
-proceeded together to Cavite, where Lacandola visited Legaspi on board,
-and, prostrating himself, averred his submission. Then Legaspi continued
-his journey to Manila, and was received there with acclamation. He took
-formal possession of the surrounding territory, declared Manila to be
-the capital of the archipelago, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the
-King of Spain over the whole group of islands. Gaspar de San Augustin,
-writing of this period, says: “He (Legaspi) ordered them (the natives)
-to finish the building of the fort in construction at the mouth of the
-river (Pasig), so that his majesty’s artillery might be mounted therein
-for the defense of the port and the town. Also he ordered them to build
-a large house inside the battlement walls for Legaspi’s own
-residence--another large house and church for the priests, etc....
-Besides these two large houses he told them to erect one hundred and
-fifty dwellings of moderate size for the remainder of the Spaniards to
-live in. All this they promptly promised to do, but they did not obey,
-for the Spaniards were themselves obliged to terminate the work of the
-fortifications.”
-
-The City Council of Manila was constituted on the 24th of June, 1571. On
-the 20th of August, 1572, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi succumbed to the
-fatigues of his arduous life, leaving behind him a name which will
-always maintain a prominent place in Spanish colonial history. He was
-buried in Manila in the Augustine Chapel of San Fausto, where hung the
-royal standard and the hero’s armorial bearings until the British troops
-occupied the city in 1763.
-
- “Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,
- For now he lives in fame, though not in life.”
- --“Richard III.,” Act 3, Sc. 1.
-
-In the meantime Salcedo continued his task of subjecting the tribes in
-the interior The natives of Taytay, and Cainta, in the present military
-district of Morong, submitted to him on the 15th of August, 1571. He
-returned to the Laguna de Bay to pacify the villagers, and penetrated as
-far as Camarines Norte to explore the Bicol River. Bolinao and the
-provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos yielded to his prowess, and in this
-last province he had well established himself when the defense of the
-capital obliged him to return to Manila.
-
-At the same time, Martin de Goiti was actively employed in overrunning
-the Pampanga territory, with the double object of procuring supplies for
-the Manila camp and coercing the inhabitants on his way to acknowledge
-their now liege lord. It is recorded that in this expedition Goiti was
-joined by the rajahs of Tondo and Manila. Yet Lacandola appears to have
-been regarded more as a servant of the Spaniards _nolens volens_ than as
-a free ally; for, because he absented himself from Goiti’s camp “without
-license from the Maestre de Campo,” he was suspected by some writers of
-having favored opposition to the Spaniards’ incursions in the Marshes of
-Hagonoy (Pampanga coast, northern boundary of Manila Bay).
-
-The district which constituted the ancient province of Taal y Balayan,
-subsequently denominated Province of Batangas, was formerly governed by
-a number of caciques, the most notable of which were Gatpagil and
-Gatjinlintan. They were usually at war with their neighbors.
-Gatjinlintan, the cacique of the Batangas River at the time of the
-conquest, was famous for his valor. Gatsungayan, who ruled on the other
-side of the river, was celebrated as a hunter of deer and wild boar.
-These men were half-castes of Borneo and Aeta extraction, who formed a
-distinct race called by the natives Daghagang. None of them would
-submit to the King of Spain or become Christians, hence their
-descendants were offered no privileges.
-
-On the death of General Legaspi, the government of the colony was
-assumed by the royal treasurer, Guido de Lavezares, in conformity with
-the sealed instructions from the Supreme Court of Mexico, which were now
-opened. During this period, the possession of the islands was
-unsuccessfully disputed by a rival expedition under the command of a
-Chinaman, Li-ma-hong, whom the Spaniards were pleased to term a pirate,
-forgetting, perhaps, that they themselves had only recently wrested the
-country from its former possessors by virtue of might against right.
-
-On the coasts of his native country he had indeed been a pirate. For the
-many depredations committed by him against private traders and property,
-the Celestial Emperor, failing to catch him by cajolery, outlawed him.
-
-Born in the port of Tiuchiu, Li-ma-hong at an early age evinced a
-martial spirit and joined a band of corsairs, which for a long time had
-been the terror of the China coasts. On the demise of his chief he was
-unanimously elected leader of the buccaneering cruisers. At length,
-pursued in all directions by the imperial ships of war, he determined to
-attempt the conquest of the Philippines. Presumably the same incentives
-which impelled the Spanish mariners to conquer lands and overthrow
-dynasties--the vision of wealth, glory and empire--awakened a like
-ambition in the Chinese adventurer. It was the spirit of the age.[9] In
-his sea-wanderings he happened to fall in with a Chinese trading-junk
-returning from Manila with the proceeds of her cargo sold there. This he
-seized, and the captive crew were constrained to pilot his fleet toward
-the capital of Luzon. From them he learned how easily the natives had
-been plundered by a handful of foreigners--the probable extent of the
-opposition he might encounter--the defenses established--the wealth and
-resources of the district and the nature of its inhabitants.
-
-His fleet consisted of sixty-two warships or armed junks, well found,
-having on board two thousand sailors, two thousand soldiers, one
-thousand five hundred women, a number of artisans, and all that could be
-conveniently carried with which to gain and organize his new kingdom. On
-its way the squadron cast anchor off the province of Ilocos Sur, where a
-few troops were sent ashore to get provisions. While returning to the
-junks, they sacked the village and set fire to the huts. The news of
-this outrage was hastily communicated to Juan Salcedo, who had been
-pacifying the northern provinces since July, 1572, and was at the time
-in Villa Fernandina (now called Vigan). Li-ma-hong continued his course
-until calms compelled his ships to anchor in the roads of Caoayan
-(Ilocos coast), where a few Spanish soldiers were stationed under the
-orders of Juan Salcedo, who still was in the immediate town of Vigan.
-Under his direction, preparations were made to prevent the enemy
-entering the river, but such was not Li-ma-hong’s intention. He again
-set sail; while Salcedo, naturally supposing his course would be toward
-Manila, also started at the same time for the capital with all the
-fighting men he could collect, leaving only thirty men to garrison Vigan
-and protect the State interests there.
-
-On the 29th of November, 1574, the squadron arrived in the Bay of
-Manila, and Li-ma-hong sent forward his lieutenant, Sioco--a
-Japanese--at the head of six hundred fighting men, to demand the
-surrender of the Spaniards. A strong gale, however, destroyed several of
-his junks, in which about two hundred men perished.
-
-With the remainder he reached the coast at Paranaque, a village a few
-miles south of Manila. Thence, with towlines, the four hundred soldiers
-hauled their junks up to the beach of the capital.
-
-Already at the village of Malate the alarm was raised, but the Spaniards
-could not give credit to the reports, and no resistance was offered
-until the Chinese were within the gates of the city. Martin de Goiti,
-the Maestre de Campo, second in command to the governor, was the first
-victim of the attack.
-
-The flames and smoke arising from his burning residence were the first
-indications which the governor received of what was going on. The
-Spaniards took refuge in the fort of Santiago, which the Chinese were on
-the point of taking by storm, when their attention was drawn elsewhere
-by the arrival of fresh troops led by a Spanish sub-lieutenant. Under
-the mistaken impression that these were the vanguard of a formidable
-corps, Sioco sounded the retreat. A bloody hand-to-hand combat
-followed, and with great difficulty the Chinese collected their dead and
-regained their junks.
-
-In the meantime Li-ma-hong, with the reserved forces, was lying in the
-roadstead of Cavite, and Sioco hastened to report to him the result of
-the attack, which had cost the invader over one hundred dead and more
-than that number wounded. Thereupon Li-ma-hong resolved to rest his
-troops and renew the conflict in two days’ time under his personal
-supervision. The next day Juan Salcedo arrived by sea with
-re-enforcements from Vigan, and preparations were unceasingly made for
-the expected encounter. Salcedo having been appointed to the office of
-Maestre de Campo, vacant since the death of Goiti, the organization of
-the defense was intrusted to his immediate care.
-
-By daybreak on the 3d of December, the enemy’s fleet hove-to off the
-capital, where Li-ma-hong harangued his troops, while the cornets and
-drums of the Spaniards were sounding the alarm for their fighting men to
-assemble in the fort.
-
-Then fifteen hundred chosen men, well armed, were disembarked under the
-leadership of Sioco, who swore to take the place or die in the attempt.
-Sioco separated his forces into three divisions. The city was set fire
-to, and Sioco advanced toward the fort, into which hand-grenades were
-thrown, while Li-ma-hong supported the attack with his ships’ cannon.
-
-Sioco, with his division, at length entered the fort, and a hand-to-hand
-fight ensued. For a while the issue was doubtful. Salcedo fought like a
-lion. Even the aged governor was well at the front to encourage the
-deadly struggle for existence. The Spaniards finally gained the
-victory; the Chinese were repulsed with great slaughter; and their
-leader having been killed, they fled in complete disorder. Salcedo,
-profiting by the confusion, now took the offensive and followed up the
-enemy, pursuing them along the sea-shore, where they were joined by the
-third division, which had remained inactive. The panic of the Chinese
-spread rapidly, and Li-ma-hong, in despair, landed another contingent of
-about five hundred men, while he still continued afloat; but even with
-this re-enforcement the morale of his army could not be regained.
-
-The Chinese troops therefore, harassed on all sides, made a precipitate
-retreat on board the fleet, and Li-ma-hong set sail again for the west
-coast of the island. Foiled in the attempt to possess himself of Manila,
-Li-ma-hong determined to set up his capital in other parts. In a few
-days he arrived at the mouth of the Agno River, in the province of
-Pangasinan, where he proclaimed to the natives that he had gained a
-signal victory over the Spaniards. The inhabitants there, having no
-particular choice between two masters, received Li-ma-hong with welcome,
-and he thereupon set about the foundation of his new capital some four
-miles from the mouth of the river.
-
-Months passed before the Spaniards came in force to dislodge the
-invader. Feeling themselves secure in their new abode, the Chinese had
-built many dwellings, a small fortress, a pagoda, etc. At length an
-expedition was dispatched under the command of Juan Salcedo. This was
-composed of about two hundred and fifty Spaniards and one thousand six
-hundred natives well equipped with small arms, ammunition and
-artillery. The flower of the Spanish colony, accompanied by two priests
-and the Rajah of Tondo, set out to expel the formidable foe. Li-ma-hong
-made a bold resistance and refused to come to terms with Salcedo. In the
-meantime, the Viceroy of Fokien, having heard of Li-ma-hong’s daring
-exploits, had commissioned a ship of war to discover the whereabout of
-his imperial master’s old enemy. The envoy was received with delight by
-the Spaniards, who invited him to accompany them to Manila to interview
-the governor.
-
-Li-ma-hong still held out, but perceiving that an irresistible onslaught
-was being projected against him by Salcedo’s party, he very cunningly
-and quite unexpectedly gave them the slip, and sailed out of the river
-with his ships by one of the mouths unknown to his enemies.[10] In order
-to divert the attention of the Spaniards, Li-ma-hong ingeniously feigned
-an assault in an opposite quarter. Of course, on his escape, he had to
-abandon the troops employed in this maneuver. These, losing all hope,
-and having, indeed, nothing but their lives to fight for, fled to the
-mountains. Hence, it is popularly supposed that from these fugitives
-descends the race of people in that province still distinguishable by
-their oblique eyes and known by the name of Igorrote-Chinese.
-
-“Aide toi et Dieu t’aidera” is an old French maxim, but the Spaniards
-chose to attribute their deliverance from their Chinese rival to the
-friendly intervention of Saint Andrew. This saint was declared
-thenceforth to be the patron saint of Manila, and in his honor High Mass
-is celebrated in the Cathedral at 8 A.M. on the 30th of each November.
-It is a public holiday and gala-day, when all the highest civil,
-military and religious authorities attend the “Funcion votiva de San
-Andrés.” This opportunity to assert the supremacy of ecclesiastical
-power was not lost to the Church, and for many years it was the custom,
-after hearing Mass, to spread the Spanish national flag on the floor of
-the Cathedral for the metropolitan archbishop to walk over it. It has
-been asserted, however, that a few years ago the governor-general
-refused to witness this antiquated formula, which, in public at least,
-no longer obtains. Now it is the practice to carry the royal standard
-before the altar. Both before and after the Mass, the bearer (Alférez
-Real), wearing his hat and accompanied by the mayor of the city, stands
-on the altar-floor, raises his hat three times, and three times dips the
-flag before the Image of Christ, then, facing the public, he repeats
-this ceremony. On Saint Andrew’s eve, the royal standard is borne in
-procession from the Cathedral through the principal streets of the city,
-escorted by civil functionaries and followed by a band of music. This
-ceremony is known as the “Paseo del Real Pendon.”
-
-According to Juan de la Concepcion, the Rajahs[11] Soliman and Lacandola
-took advantage of these troubles to raise a rebellion against the
-Spaniards. The natives too of Mindoro Island revolted and maltreated
-the priests, but all these disturbances were speedily quelled by a
-detachment of soldiers.
-
-The governor willingly accepted the offer of the commander of the
-Chinese man-of-war to convey embassadors to his country to visit the
-viceroy and make a commercial treaty. Therefore two priests, Martin Rada
-and Geronimo Martin, were commissioned to carry a letter of greeting and
-presents to this personage, who received them with great distinction,
-but objected to their residing in the country.
-
-After the defeat of Li-ma-hong, Juan Salcedo again repaired to the
-northern provinces of Luzon Island, to continue his task of reducing the
-natives to submission. On the 11th of March, 1576, he died of fever near
-Vigan (then called Villa Fernandina), capital of the province of Ilocos
-Sur. A year afterward, what could be found of his bones were placed in
-the ossuary of his illustrious grandfather, Legaspi, in the Augustine
-Chapel of Saint Fausto, Manila. His skull, however, which had been
-carried off by the natives of Ilocos, could not be recovered in spite of
-all threats and promises. In Vigan there is a small monument raised to
-commemorate the deeds of this famous warrior, and there is also a street
-bearing his name.
-
-For several years following these events, the question of prestige in
-the civil affairs of the colony was acrimoniously contested by the
-governor-general, the supreme court and the ecclesiastics.
-
-The governor was censured by his opponents for alleged undue exercise of
-arbitrary authority. The supreme court, established on the Mexican
-model, was reproached with seeking to overstep the limits of its
-functions. Every legal quibble was adjusted by a dilatory process,
-impracticable in a colony yet in its infancy, where summary justice was
-indispensable for the maintenance of order imperfectly understood by the
-masses. But the fault lay less with the justices than with the
-constitution of the court itself. Nor was this state of affairs improved
-by the growing discontent and immoderate ambition of the clergy, who
-unremittingly urged their pretensions to immunity from State control,
-affirming the supramundane condition of their office.
-
-An excellent code of laws, called the Leyes de Indias, in force in
-Mexico, was adopted here, but modifications in harmony with the special
-conditions of this colony were urgently necessary, while all the
-branches of government called for reorganization or reform. Under these
-circumstances, the bishop of Manila, Domingo Salazar, took the
-initiative in commissioning a priest, Fray Alonso Sanchez, to repair
-first to the viceroy of Mexico and afterward to the King of Spain, to
-expose the grievances of his party.
-
-Alonso Sanchez left the Philippines with his appointment as
-procurator-general for the Augustine order of monks. As the execution of
-the proposed reforms, which he was charged to lay before his majesty,
-would, if conceded, be intrusted to the government of Mexico, his first
-care was to seek the partisanship of the viceroy of that colony; and in
-this he succeeded. Thence he continued his journey to Seville, where the
-court happened to be, arriving there in September, 1587. He was at once
-granted an audience by the king, to present his credentials and
-memorials relative to Philippine affairs in general; and ecclesiastical
-judicial, military and native matters in particular. The king promised
-to peruse all the documents, but suffering from gout, and having so many
-and distinct State concerns to attend to, the negotiations were greatly
-delayed. Finally, Sanchez sought a minister who had easy access to the
-royal apartments, and this personage obtained from the king permission
-to examine the documents and hand to him a succinct resumé of the whole
-for his majesty’s consideration. A commission was then appointed,
-including Sanchez, and the deliberations lasted five months.
-
-At this period, public opinion in the Spanish universities was very
-divided with respect to Catholic missions in the Indies.
-
-Some maintained that the propaganda of the faith ought to be purely
-Apostolic, such as Jesus Christ taught to his disciples, inculcating
-doctrines of humility and poverty without arms or violence, and if,
-nevertheless, the heathens refused to welcome this mission of peace, the
-missionaries should simply abandon them in silence without further
-demonstration than that of shaking the dust off their feet.
-
-Others opined, and among them was Sanchez, that such a method was
-useless and impracticable, and that it was justifiable to force their
-religion upon primitive races at the point of the sword if necessary,
-using any violence to enforce its acceptance.
-
-Much ill-feeling was aroused in the discussion of these two and distinct
-theories. Juan Volante, a Dominican friar of the Convent of Our Lady of
-Atocha, presented a petition against the views of the Sanchez faction,
-declaring that the idea of ingrafting religion with the aid of arms was
-scandalous. Fray Juan Volante was so importunate, that he had to be
-heard in council, but neither party yielded. At length, the intervention
-of the bishops of Manila, Macao and Malacca and several captains and
-governors in the Indies influenced the king to put an end to the
-controversy, on the ground that it would lead to no good.
-
-The king retired to the Monastery of the Escorial, and Sanchez was cited
-to meet him there to learn the royal will. About the same time the news
-reached the king of the loss of the so-called Invincible Armada, sent
-under the command of the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia to annex
-England. Notwithstanding this severe blow to the vain ambition of
-Philip, the affairs of the Philippines were delayed but a short time. On
-the basis of the recommendation of the junta, the royal assent was given
-to an important decree, of which the most significant articles are the
-following, namely:--The tribute was fixed by the king at ten reales per
-annum, payable by the natives in gold, silver, or grain, or part in one
-commodity and part in the other. Of this tribute, eight reales were to
-be paid to the treasury, one half real to the bishop and clergy, and one
-real and a half to be applied to the maintenance of the soldiery. Full
-tribute was not to be exacted from the natives still unsubjected to the
-crown. Until their confidence and loyalty should be gained by friendly
-overtures, they were to pay a small recognition of vassalage, and
-subsequently the tribute in common with the rest.
-
-Instead of one-fifth value of gold and hidden treasure due to his
-majesty (real quinto), he would henceforth receive only one-tenth of
-such value, excepting that of gold, which the natives would be permitted
-to extract free of rebate.
-
-A customs duty of 3 per cent ad valorem was to be paid on merchandise
-sold, and this duty was to be spent on the army.
-
-Export duty was to be paid on goods shipped to New Spain (Mexico), and
-this impost was also to be exclusively spent on the armed forces.
-
-The number of European troops in the colony was fixed at four hundred
-men-at-arms, divided into six companies, each under a captain, a
-sub-lieutenant, a sergeant, and two corporals. Their pay was to be as
-follows, namely: Captain thirty-five dollars, sub-lieutenant twenty
-dollars, sergeant ten dollars, corporal seven dollars, rank and file six
-dollars per month; besides which, an annual gratuity of ten thousand
-dollars was to be proportionately distributed to all.
-
-Recruits from Mexico were not to enlist under the age of fifteen years.
-
-The captain-general was to have a body-guard of twenty-four men
-(halberdiers), with the pay of those of the line, under the immediate
-command of a captain to be paid fifteen dollars per month.
-
-Salaries due to State employés were to be punctually paid when due; and
-when funds were wanted for that purpose they were to be supplied from
-Mexico.
-
-The king made a donation of twelve thousand dollars, which, with another
-like sum to be contributed by the Spaniards themselves, would serve to
-liquidate the debts incurred on their first occupation of the islands.
-
-The governor and bishop were recommended to consider the project of a
-refuge for young Spanish women arrived from Spain, and to study the
-question of dowries for native women married to poor Spaniards.
-
-The offices of secretaries and notaries were no longer to be sold, but
-conferred on persons who merited such appointments.
-
-The governors were instructed not to make grants of land to their
-relations, servants or friends, but solely to those who should have
-resided at least three years in the islands, and have worked the lands
-so conceded. Any grants which might have already been made to the
-relations of the governors or magistrates were to be canceled.
-
-The rent paid by the Chinese for the land they occupied was to be
-applied to the necessities of the capital.
-
-The governor and bishop were to enjoin the judges not to permit costly
-lawsuits, but to execute summary justice verbally, and, so far as
-possible, fines were not to be inflicted.
-
-The city of Manila was to be fortified in a manner to insure it against
-all further attacks or risings.
-
-Four penitentiaries were to be established in the islands in the most
-convenient places, with the necessary garrisons, and six to eight
-galleys and frigates well armed and ready for defense against the
-English corsairs which might come by way of the Moluccas.
-
-In the most remote and unexplored parts of the islands, the governor was
-to have unlimited powers to act as he should please, without consulting
-his majesty; but projected enterprises of conversion, pacification,
-etc., at the expense of the royal treasury, were to be submitted to a
-council, comprising the bishop, the captains, etc. The governor was
-authorized to capitulate and agree with the captains and others who
-might care to undertake conversions and pacifications on their own
-account, and to concede the title of Maestre de Campo to such persons,
-on condition that such capitulations should be forwarded to his majesty
-for ratification.
-
-Only those persons domiciled in the islands would be permitted to trade
-with them.
-
-A sum of one thousand dollars was to be taken from the tributes paid
-into the royal treasury for the foundation of the hospital for the
-Spaniards, and the annual sum of six hundred dollars, appropriated by
-the governor for its support, was confirmed. Moreover, the royal
-treasury of Mexico was to send clothing to the value of four hundred
-ducats for the hospital use.
-
-The hospital for the natives was to receive an annual donation of six
-hundred dollars for its support, and an immediate supply of clothing
-from Mexico to the value of two hundred dollars.
-
-Slaves held by Spaniards were to be immediately set at liberty. No
-native was thenceforth to be enslaved. All new-born natives were
-declared free. The bondage of all existing slaves from ten years of age
-was to cease on their attaining twenty years of age. Those above twenty
-years of age were to serve five years longer, and then become free. At
-any time, notwithstanding the foregoing conditions, they would be
-entitled to purchase their liberty, the price of which was to be
-determined by the governor and the bishop.[12]
-
-There being no tithes payable to the church by Spaniards or natives, the
-clergy were to receive for their maintenance the half real above
-mentioned in lieu thereof, from the tribute paid by each native
-subjected to the crown. When the Spaniards should have crops, they were
-to pay tithes to the clergy.
-
-A grant was made of twelve thousand ducats for the building and
-ornaments of the Cathedral, and an immediate advance of two thousand
-ducats, on account of this grant, was made from the funds to be remitted
-from Mexico.
-
-Forty Austin friars were to be sent at once to the Philippines, to be
-followed by missionaries from other corporations. The king allowed five
-hundred dollars to be paid against the one thousand dollars’ passage
-money for each priest, the balance to be defrayed out of the common
-funds of the clergy, derived from their share of the tribute.
-
-Missionaries in great numbers had already flocked to the Philippines and
-roamed wherever they thought fit, without license from the bishop, whose
-authority they utterly repudiated.
-
-Affirming that they had the direct consent of his holiness the Pope,
-they menaced with excommunication whosoever attempted to impede them in
-their free peregrination. Five years after the foundation of Manila, the
-city and environs were infested with niggardly mendicant friars, whose
-slothful habits placed their supercilious countrymen in ridicule before
-the natives. They were tolerated but a short time in the islands; not
-altogether because of the ruin they would have brought to European moral
-influence on the untutored tribes, but because the bishop was highly
-jealous of all competition against the Augustine order to which he
-belonged. Consequent on the representations of Fray Alonso Sanchez, his
-majesty ordained that all priests who went to the Philippines were, in
-the first place, to resolve never to quit the islands without the
-bishop’s sanction, which was to be conceded with great circumspection
-and only in extreme cases, while the governor was instructed not to
-afford them means of exit on his sole authority.
-
-Neither did the bishop regard with satisfaction the presence of the
-commissary of the Inquisition, whose secret investigations, shrouded
-with mystery, curtailed the liberty of the loftiest functionary, sacred
-or civil. At the instigation of Fray Alonso Sanchez, the junta
-recommended the king to recall the commissary and extinguish the office,
-but he refused to do so. In short, the chief aims of the bishop were to
-enhance the power of the friars, raise the dignity of the colonial
-miter, and secure a religious monopoly for the Augustine order.
-
-Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was the next governor appointed to these islands,
-on the recommendation of Fray Alonso Sanchez. In the royal instructions
-which he brought with him were embodied all the above mentioned civil,
-ecclesiastical and military reforms.
-
-At the same time, King Philip abolished the supreme court. He wished to
-put an end to the interminable lawsuits so prejudicial to the
-development of the colony. Therefore the president and magistrates were
-replaced by justices of the peace, and the former returned to Mexico in
-1591. This measure served only to widen the breach between the bishop
-and the civil government. Dasmarinas compelled him to keep within the
-sphere of his sacerdotal functions, and tolerated no rival in State
-concerns. There was no appeal on the spot against the governor’s
-authority. This restraint irritated and disgusted the bishop to such a
-degree, that at the age of seventy-eight years he resolved to present
-himself at the Spanish court. On his arrival there, he manifested to the
-king the impossibility of one bishop attending to the spiritual wants of
-a people dispersed over so many islands. For seven years after the
-foundation of Manila, as capital of the archipelago, its principal
-church was simply a parish church. In 1578 it was raised to the dignity
-of a cathedral, at the instance of the king. Three years after this date
-the Cathedral of Manila was solemnly declared to be a “Suffragan
-Cathedral of Mexico, under the Advocation of Our Lady of the Immaculate
-Conception”; Domingo Salazar being the first bishop consecrated. He now
-proposed to raise the Manila see to an archbishopric, with three
-suffragan bishops. The king gave his consent, subject to approval from
-Rome, and, this following in due course, Salazar was appointed first
-archbishop of Manila; but he died before the Papal Bull arrived, dated
-the 14th of August, 1595, officially authorizing his investiture.
-
-In the meantime, Alonso Sanchez had proceeded to Rome in May, 1589.
-Among many other Pontifical favors conceded to him, he obtained the
-right for himself, or his assigns, to use a die or stamp of any form
-with one or more images; to be chosen by the holder, and to contain also
-the figure of Christ, the Very Holy Virgin, or the Saint--Peter or Paul.
-On the reverse was to be engraven a bust portrait of His Holiness with
-the following indulgences attached thereto, viz.:-“To him who should
-convey the word of God to the infidels, or give them notice of the holy
-mysteries--each time 300 years’ indulgence. To him who, by industry,
-converted any one of these, or brought him to the bosom of the
-Church--full indulgence for all sins.” A number of minor indulgences
-were conceded for services to be rendered to the Pontificate, and for
-the praying so many Pater Nosters and Ave Marias. This Bull was dated in
-Rome the 28th of July, 1591.
-
-Popes Gregory XIV. and Innocent IX. granted other Bulls relating to the
-rewards for using beads, medals, crosses, pictures, blessed images,
-etc., with which one could gain nine plenary indulgences every day or
-rescue nine souls from purgatory; and each day, twice over, all the full
-indulgences yet given in and out of Rome could be obtained for living
-and deceased persons.
-
-Sanchez returned to Spain (where he died), bringing with him the body of
-Saint Policarp, a relic of Saint Potenciana, and one hundred and
-fifty-seven martyrs; among them, twenty-seven popes, for remission to
-the Cathedral of Manila.
-
-The supreme court was re-established with the same faculties as those of
-Mexico and Lima in 1598, and since then, on seven occasions, when the
-governorship has been vacant, it has acted pro tem. The following
-interesting account of the pompous ceremonial attending the reception of
-the Royal Seal, restoring this court, is given by Concepcion.[13] He
-says: “The Royal Seal of office was received from the ship with the
-accustomed solemnity. It was contained in a chest covered with purple
-velvet and trimmings of silver and gold, over which hung a cloth of
-purple and gold. It was escorted by a majestic accompaniment, marching
-to the sounds of clarions and cymbals and other musical instruments. The
-cortege passed through the noble city with rich vestments and leg
-trimmings and uncovered heads. Behind these followed a horse, gorgeously
-caparisoned and girthed, for the president to place the coffer
-containing the Royal Seal upon its back. The streets were beautifully
-adorned with exquisite drapery. The high bailiff, magnificently robed,
-took the reins in hand to lead the horse under a purple velvet pall
-bordered with gold. The magistrates walked on either side; the aldermen
-of the city, richly clad, carried their staves of office in the august
-procession, which concluded with a military escort, standard-bearers,
-etc., and proceeded to the Cathedral, where it was met by the dean,
-holding a Cross. As the company entered the sacred edifice, the Te Deum
-was intoned by a band of music.”
-
-In 1886 a supreme court, exactly similar to, and independent of, that of
-Manila, was established in the city of Cebu. The question of precedence
-in official acts having been soon after disputed between the president
-of the court and the brigadier-governor of Visayas, it was decided in
-favor of the latter, on appeal to the governor-general. In the meantime,
-the advisability of abolishing the supreme court of Cebu was debated by
-the public.
-
-Consequent on the union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain (1581 to
-1640), the feuds, as between nations, diplomatically subsided, although
-the individual antagonism was as rife as ever.
-
-Spanish and Portuguese interests in the Moluccas, as elsewhere, were
-thenceforth officially mutual. In the Moluccas group, the old contests
-between the then rival kingdoms had estranged the natives from their
-forced alliances. Anti-Portuguese and Philo-Portuguese parties had
-sprung up among the petty sovereignties, but the Portuguese fort and
-factory established in Ternate Island were held for many years, despite
-all contentions. But another rivalry, as formidable and more detrimental
-than that of the Portuguese in days gone by, now menaced Spanish
-ascendency.
-
-From the close of the sixteenth century up to the year of the “Family
-Compact” wars (1763), Holland and Spain were relentless foes. To recount
-the numerous combats between their respective fleets during this period
-would itself require a volume. It will suffice here to show the bearing
-of these political conflicts upon the concerns of the Philippine
-colony. The Treaty of Antwerp, which was wrung from the Spaniards in
-1609, twenty-eight years after the union of Spain and Portugal, broke
-the scourge of their tyranny, while it failed to assuage the mutual
-antipathy. One of the consequences of the “Wars of the Flanders,” which
-terminated with this treaty, was that the Dutch were obliged to seek in
-the Far East the merchandise which had hitherto been supplied to them
-from the Peninsula. The short-sighted policy of the Spaniards in closing
-to the Dutch the Portuguese markets, which were now theirs, brought upon
-themselves the destruction of the monopolies which they had gained by
-the union. The Dutch were now free, and their old tyrant’s policy
-induced them to independently establish their own trading headquarters
-in the Molucca Islands, whence they could obtain directly the produce
-forbidden to them in the home ports. Hence, from those islands, the
-ships of a powerful Netherlands Trading Company sallied forth from time
-to time to meet the Spanish galleons from Mexico with silver and
-manufactured goods.
-
-Previous to this, and during the Wars of the Flanders, Dutch corsairs
-hovered about the waters of the Moluccas, to take reprisals from the
-Spaniards. These encounters frequently took place at the eastern
-entrance of the San Bernadino Straits, where the Dutch were accustomed
-to hove-to in anticipation of the arrival of their prizes.
-
-In this manner, constantly roving about the Philippine waters, they
-enriched themselves at the expense of their detested adversary, and, in
-a small degree, avenged themselves of the bloodshed and oppression
-which for over sixty years had desolated the Low Countries.
-
-The Philippine colony lost immense sums in the seizure of its galleons
-from Mexico, upon which it almost entirely depended for subsistence.
-Being a dependency of New Spain, its whole intercourse with the
-civilized world, its supplies of troops and European manufactured
-articles, were contingent upon the safe arrival of the galleons. Also
-the dollars with which they annually purchased cargoes from the Chinese
-for the galleons came from Mexico.
-
-Consequently, the Dutch usually took the aggressive in these
-sea-battles, although they were not always victorious. When there were
-no ships to meet, they bombarded the ports where others were being
-built. The Spaniards, on their part, from time to time fitted out
-vessels to run down to the Moluccas to attack the enemy in his own
-waters.
-
-During the governorship of Gomez Perez Dasmarinas (1590-1593), the
-native king of Siao Island--one of the Moluccas group--came to Manila to
-offer homage and vassalage to the representative of the King of Spain
-and Portugal, in return for protection against the incursions of the
-Dutch and the raids of the Ternate natives. Dasmarinas received him and
-the Spanish priests who accompanied him with affability, and, being
-satisfied with his credentials, he prepared a large expedition to go to
-the Moluccas to set matters in order. The fleet was composed of several
-frigates, one ship, six galleys and one hundred small vessels, all well
-armed. The fighting men numbered one hundred Spaniards, four hundred
-Pampanga and Tagalog arquebusiers, one thousand Visayas archers and
-lancers, besides one hundred Chinese to row the galleys. This
-expedition, which was calculated to be amply sufficient to subdue all
-the Moluccas, sailed from Cavite on the 6th of October, 1593. The
-sailing ships having got far ahead of the galleys, they hove-to off
-Punta de Azufre (N. of Maricaban Island) to wait for them. The galleys
-arrived; and the next day they were able to start again in company.
-Meanwhile a conspiracy was formed by the Chinese galleymen to murder all
-the Spaniards. Assuming these Chinese to be volunteers, their action
-would appear most wanton and base. If, however, as is most probable,
-they were pressed into this military service to foreigners, it seems
-quite natural that, being forced to bloodshed without alternative, they
-should first fight for their own liberty.
-
-All but the Chinese were asleep, and they fell upon the Spaniards in a
-body. Eighteen of the troops and four slaves escaped by jumping into the
-sea. The governor was sleeping in his cabin, but awoke on hearing the
-noise. He supposed the ship had grounded, and was coming up the
-companion en deshabille, when a Chinaman cleaved his head with a
-cutlass. The governor reached his stateroom, and taking his missal and
-the Image of the Virgin in his hand, he died in six hours. The Chinese
-did not venture below, where the priests and armed soldiers were hidden.
-They cleared the decks of all their opponents, made fast the hatches and
-gangways, and waited three days, when, after putting ashore those who
-were still alive, they escaped to Cochin-China, where the king and
-mandarins seized the vessel and all she carried. On board were found
-twelve thousand dollars in coin, some silver, and jewels belonging to
-the governor and his suite.
-
-Thus the expedition was brought to an untimely end. The King of Siao,
-and the missionaries accompanying him, had started in advance for Otong
-(Panay Island) to wait for the governor, and there they received the
-news of the disaster.
-
-Among the most notable of the successful expeditions of the Spaniards
-was that of Pedro Bravo de Acuna, in 1606, which consisted of nineteen
-frigates, nine galleys and eight small craft, carrying a total of about
-two thousand men and provisions for a prolonged struggle. The result
-was, that they subdued a petty sultan friendly to the Dutch, and
-established a fortress on his island.
-
-About the year 1607, the supreme court (the governorship being vacant
-from 1606 to 1608) hearing that a Dutch vessel was hovering off Ternate,
-sent a ship against it, commanded by Pedro de Heredia. A combat ensued.
-The Dutch commander was taken prisoner with several of his men, and
-lodged in the fort at Ternate, but was ransomed on payment of fifty
-thousand dollars to the Spanish commander. Heredia returned joyfully to
-Manila, where, much to his surprise, he was prosecuted by the supreme
-court for exceeding his instructions, and expired of melancholy. The
-ransomed Dutch leader was making his way back to his headquarters in a
-small ship, peacefully, and without hostilizing the Spaniards in any
-way, when the supreme court treacherously sent a galley and a frigate
-after him to make him prisoner a second time. Overwhelmed by numbers
-and arms, and little expecting such perfidious conduct of the Spaniards,
-he was at once arrested and brought to Manila. The Dutch returned
-twenty-two Spanish prisoners of war to Manila to ransom him; but while
-these were retained, the Dutch commander was, nevertheless, imprisoned
-for life.
-
-Some years afterward, a Dutch squadron anchored off the south point of
-Bataan Province, not far from Punta Marivelez, at the entrance to Manila
-Bay. Juan de Silva, the governor (from 1609 to 1616), was in great
-straits. Several ships had been lost by storms, others were away, and
-there was no adequate floating armament with which to meet the enemy.
-However, the Dutch lay-to for five or six months, waiting to seize the
-Chinese and Japanese traders’ goods on their way to the Manila market.
-They secured immense booty, and were in no hurry to open hostilities.
-This delay gave Silva time to prepare vessels to attack the foe. In the
-interval, he dreamed that Saint Mark had offered to help him defeat the
-Dutch. On awaking, he called a priest, whom he consulted about the
-dream, and they agreed that the nocturnal vision was a sign from Heaven
-denoting a victory. The priest went (from Cavite) to Manila to procure a
-relic of this glorious intercessor, and returned with his portrait to
-the governor, who adored it. In haste the ships and armament were
-prepared. On Saint Mark’s day, therefore, the Spaniards sallied forth
-from Cavite with six ships, carrying seventy guns, and two galleys and
-two launches also well armed, besides a number of small light vessels,
-to assist in the formation of line of battle.
-
-All the European fighting men in Manila and Cavite embarked--over one
-thousand Spaniards--the flower of the colony, together with a large
-force of natives, who were taught to believe that the Dutch were
-infidels. On the issue of this day’s events perchance depended the
-possession of the colony. Manila and Cavite were garrisoned by
-volunteers. Orations were offered in the churches. The Miraculous Image
-of Our Lady of the Guide was taken in procession from the Hermit, and
-exposed to public view in the Cathedral. The saints of the different
-churches and sanctuaries were adored and exhibited daily. The governor
-himself took the supreme command, and dispelled all wavering doubt in
-his subordinates by proclaiming Saint Mark’s promise of intercession. On
-his ship he hoisted the royal standard, on which was embroidered the
-Image of the Holy Virgin, with the motto: “Mostrate esse Matrem,” and
-over a beautifully calm sea he led the way to battle.
-
-A shot from the Spanish heavy artillery opened the bloody combat. The
-Dutch were completely vanquished, after a fierce struggle which lasted
-six hours. Their three ships were destroyed, and their flags, artillery,
-and plundered merchandise to the value of three hundred thousand dollars
-were seized. This famous engagement was thenceforth known as the battle
-of Playa Honda.
-
-Again in 1611, under Silva, a squadron sailed to the Moluccas and
-defeated the Dutch off Giolo Island.
-
-In 1617, the Spaniards had a successful engagement off the Zambales
-coast with the Dutch, who lost three of their ships.
-
-In July, 1620, three Mexican galleons were met by three Dutch vessels
-off Cape Espiritu Santo (Samar Island), at the entrance of the San
-Bernadino Straits, but managed to escape in the dark. Two ran ashore and
-broke up; the third reached Manila. After this the governor-general,
-Alonzo Fajardo de Tua, ordered the course of the State ships to be
-varied on each voyage.
-
-In 1625, the Dutch again appeared off the Zambales coast, and Geronimo
-de Silva went out against them. The Spaniards, having lost one man,
-relinquished the pursuit of the enemy, and the commander was brought to
-trial by the supreme court.
-
-In 1626, at the close of the governorship of Fernando de Silva, a
-Spanish colony was founded on Formosa Island, but no supplies were sent
-to it, and consequently in 1642 it surrendered to the Dutch, who held it
-for twenty years, until they were driven out by the Chinese adventurer
-Keuseng. And thus for over a century and a half the strife continued,
-until the Dutch concentrated their attention in the development of their
-Eastern colonies, which the power of Spain, growing more and more
-effete, was incompetent to impede.
-
-In 1761, King George III. had just succeeded to the throne of England,
-and the protracted contentions with France had been suspended for a
-while. It was soon evident, however, that efforts were being employed to
-extinguish the power and prestige of Great Britain, and with this object
-a convention had been entered into between France and Spain known as the
-“Family Compact.” It was so called because it was an alliance made by
-the three branches of the House of Bourbon; namely, Louis XV. of France,
-Charles III. of Spain, and his son Ferdinand, who, in accordance with
-the Treaty of Vienna, had ascended the throne of Naples. Spain engaged
-to unite her forces with those of France against England on the 1st of
-May, 1762, if the war still lasted, in which case France would restore
-Minorca to Spain. Pitt was convinced of the necessity of meeting the
-coalition by force of arms, but he was unable to secure the support of
-his Ministry to declare war, and he therefore retired from the
-premiership. The succeeding Cabinet was, nevertheless, compelled to
-adopt his policy, and, after having lost many advantages by delaying
-their decision, war was declared against France and Spain.
-
-The British were successful everywhere. In the West Indies, the
-Caribbean Islands and Havana were captured, with great booty, by Rodney
-and Monckton, while a British fleet was dispatched to the Philippine
-Islands with orders to take Manila.
-
-There are many versions of this event given by different historians, and
-among them there is not wanting an author who, following the Spanish
-custom, has accounted for defeat by alleging treason.
-
-On the 14th of September, 1762, a British vessel arrived in the Bay of
-Manila, refused to admit Spanish officers on board, and after taking
-soundings she sailed again out of the harbor.
-
-In the evening of the 22d of September, the British squadron, composed
-of thirteen ships, under the command of Admiral Cornish, entered the
-bay, and the next day two British officers were deputed to demand the
-surrender of the citadel, which was refused.
-
-Brigadier-general Draper thereupon disembarked his troops, and again
-called upon the city to yield. This citation being defied, the
-bombardment commenced the next day. The fleet anchored in front of a
-powder-magazine, took possession of the churches of Malate, Hermita, San
-Juan de Bagumbayan and Santiago. Two picket guards made an unsuccessful
-sortie against them. The whole force in Manila at the time was the
-king’s regiment, which mustered about six hundred men, and eighty pieces
-of artillery. The British forces consisted of one thousand five hundred
-European troops (one regiment of infantry and two companies of
-artillery), three thousand seamen, eight hundred Sepoy fusileers and one
-thousand four hundred Sepoy pioneers, making a total of six thousand
-eight hundred and thirty men.
-
-There was no governor-general here at the time, and the only person with
-whom the British commander could treat was the acting-governor, the
-Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo, who was willing to yield. His authority
-was, however, set aside by a rebellious war party, who placed themselves
-under the leadership of a magistrate of the supreme court named Simon de
-Anda y Salazar. This individual, instead of leading them to battle, fled
-to the province of Bulacan, the day before the capture of Manila, in a
-prahu with a few natives, carrying with him some money and half a ream
-of official stamped paper. He knew perfectly well that he was defying
-the legal authority of the acting-governor, and was, in fact, in open
-rebellion against his mandate. It was necessary, therefore, to give an
-official color to his acts by issuing his orders and proclamations on
-government-stamped paper, so that their validity might be recognized if
-he subsequently succeeded in justifying his action at court.
-
-On the 24th of September the Spanish batteries of San Diego and San
-Andres opened fire, but with little effect. A richly laden galleon--the
-“Philipino”--was known to be on her way from Mexico to Manila, but the
-British ships which were sent in quest of her fell in with another
-galleon--the “Trinidad”--and brought their prize to Manila. Her treasure
-amounted to about two million five hundred thousand dollars.
-
-A Frenchman resident in Manila, Monsieur Faller, made an attack on the
-British, who forced him to retire, and he was then accused by the
-Spaniards of treason. Artillery fire was kept up on both sides. The
-archbishop’s nephew was taken prisoner, and an officer was sent with him
-to hand him over to his uncle. However, a party of natives fell upon
-them and murdered them all. The officer’s head having been cut off, it
-was demanded by General Draper. Excuses were made for not giving it up,
-and the general determined thenceforth to continue the warfare with
-vigor and punish this atrocity. The artillery was increased by another
-battery of three mortars, placed behind the Church of Santiago, and the
-bombardment continued.
-
-Five thousand native recruits arrived from the provinces, and out of
-this number two thousand Pampangos were selected. They were divided into
-three columns, in order to advance by different routes and attack
-respectively the Church of Santiago, Malate and Hermita, and the troops
-on the beach. At each place they were driven back. The leader of the
-attack on Malate and Hermita--Don Santiago Orendain--was declared a
-traitor. The first two columns were dispersed with great confusion and
-loss. The third column retreated before they had sustained or inflicted
-any loss. The natives fled to their villages in dismay, and on the 5th
-of October the British entered the walled city. After a couple of hours’
-bombardment the forts of San Andres and San Eugenio were demolished, the
-artillery overturned, and the enemy’s fusileers and sappers were killed.
-
-A council of war was now held by the Spaniards. General Draper sustained
-the authority of the archbishop against the war-party, composed chiefly
-of civilians, who determined to continue the defense in spite of the
-opinion of the military men, who argued that a capitulation was
-inevitable. But matters were brought to a crisis by the natives, who
-refused to repair the fortifications, and the Europeans were unable to
-perform such hard labor. Great confusion reigned in the city--the clergy
-fled through the Puerto del Parian, where there was still a native
-guard. According to Zuniga, the British spent twenty thousand cannon
-balls and five thousand shells in the bombardment of the city.
-
-Major Fell entered the city at the head of his troops and General Draper
-followed, leading his column unopposed, with two field pieces in the
-van, while a constant musketry fire cleared the Calle Real as they
-advanced. The people fled before the enemy. The gates being closed, they
-scrambled up the walls and got into boats or swam off.
-
-Colonel Monson was sent by Draper to the archbishop-governor to say that
-he expected immediate surrender. This was disputed by the archbishop,
-who presented a paper purporting to be terms of capitulation. The
-colonel refused to take it, and demanded an unconditional surrender.
-Then the archbishop, a colonel of the Spanish troops and Colonel Monson
-went to interview the general, whose quarters were in the palace. The
-archbishop, offering himself as a prisoner, presented the terms of
-capitulation, which provided for the free exercise of their religion;
-security of private property; free trade to all the inhabitants of the
-islands, and the continuation of the powers of the supreme court to keep
-order among the ill-disposed. These terms were granted, but General
-Draper, on his part, stipulated for an indemnity of four millions of
-dollars, and it was agreed to pay one-half of this sum in specie and
-valuables and the other half in treasury bills on Madrid. The
-capitulation, with these modifications, was signed by Draper and the
-archbishop-governor. The Spanish colonel took the document to the fort
-to have it countersigned by the magistrates, which was at once done; the
-fort was delivered up to the British, and the magistrates retired to the
-palace to pay their respects to the conqueror.
-
-When the British flag was seen floating from the fort of Santiago there
-was great cheering from the British fleet. The archbishop stated that
-when Draper reviewed the troops more than one thousand men were missing,
-including sixteen officers. Among these officers were a major, fatally
-wounded by an arrow on the first day of the assault, and the
-vice-admiral, who was drowned while coming ashore in a boat.
-
-The natives who had been brought from the provinces to Manila were
-plundering and committing excesses in the city, so Draper had them all
-driven out. Guards were placed at the doors of the nunneries and
-convents to prevent outrages on the women, and then the city was given
-up to the victorious troops for pillage during three hours. Zuniga,
-however, remarks that the European troops were moderate, but that the
-Indian contingents were insatiable. They are said to have committed many
-atrocities, and, reveling in bloodshed, even murdered the inhabitants.
-They ransacked the suburbs of Santa Cruz and Binondo, and, acting like
-savage victorious tribes, they ravished women, and even went into the
-highways to murder and rob those who fled. The three hours expired, and
-the following day a similar scene was permitted. The archbishop
-thereupon besought the general to put a stop to it, and have compassion
-on the city. The general complied with this request, and restored order
-under pain of death for disobedience--some Chinese were in consequence
-hanged. General Draper himself killed one whom he found in the act of
-stealing, and he ordered that all church property should be restored,
-but only some priests’ vestments were recovered.
-
-Draper demanded the surrender of Cavite, which was agreed to by the
-archbishop and magistrates, but the commanding officer refused to
-comply. The major of that garrison was sent with a message to the
-commander, but on the way he talked with such freedom about the
-surrender to the British, that the natives quitted their posts and
-plundered the arsenal. The commander, rather than face humiliation,
-retired to a ship, and left all further responsibility to the major.
-
-Measures were now taken to pay the agreed indemnity. Heavy contributions
-were levied upon the inhabitants, which, however, together with the
-silver from the pious establishments, church ornaments, plate, the
-archbishop’s rings and breast-cross, only amounted to five hundred and
-forty-six thousand dollars. The British then proposed to accept one
-million at once and draw the rest from the cargo of the galleon
-“Philipino,” if it resulted that she had not been seized by the British
-previous to the day the capitulation was signed--but the one million was
-not forthcoming. The day before the capture of Manila, a royal messenger
-had been sent off with one hundred and eleven thousand dollars, with
-orders to secure it in some place in the Laguna de Bay. The archbishop
-now ordered its return to Manila, and issued a requisition to that
-effect; but the Franciscan friars were insubordinate, and armed the
-natives, whom they virtually ruled, and the treasure was secreted in
-Majayjay Convent. Thence, on receipt of the archbishop’s message, it was
-carried across country to a place in North Pampanga, bordering on
-Cagayan and Pangasinan. The British, convinced that they were being
-duped, insisted on their claim. Thomas Backhouse, commanding the troops
-stationed at Pasig, went up to the Laguna de Bay with eighty mixed
-troops, to intercept the bringing of the “Philipino” treasure. He
-attacked Tunasan, Vinan and Santa Rosa, and embarked for Pagsanjan,
-which was then the capital of the Lake Province. The inhabitants, after
-firing the convent and church, fled. Backhouse returned to Calamba,
-entered the Province of Batangas, overran it, and made several Austin
-friars prisoners. In Lipa he seized three thousand dollars, and there he
-established his quarters, expecting that the “Philipino” treasure would
-be carried that way; but on learning that it had been transported by
-sea to a Pampanga coast town, Backhouse withdrew to Pasig.
-
-In the capitulation, the whole of the Archipelago was surrendered to the
-British, but Simon de Anda determined to appeal to arms. Draper used
-stratagem, and issued a proclamation commiserating the fate of the
-natives who paid tribute to Spaniards, and assuring them that the King
-of England would not exact it. The archbishop, as governor, became
-Draper’s tool, sent messages to the Spanish families persuading them to
-return, and appointed an Englishman, married in the country, to be
-alderman of Tondo. Despite the strenuous opposition of the supreme
-court, the archbishop, at the instance of Draper, convened a council of
-native headmen and representative families, and proposed to them the
-cession of all the islands to the King of England. Draper clearly saw
-that the ruling powers in the colony, judging from their energy and
-effective measures, were the friars, so he treated them with great
-respect. The Frenchman Faller, who unsuccessfully opposed the British
-assault, was offered troops to go and take possession of Zamboanga and
-accept the government there, but he refused, as did also a Spaniard
-named Sandoval.
-
-Draper returned to Europe; Major Fell was left in command of the troops,
-while Drake assumed the military government of the city, with Smith and
-Brock as council, and Brereton in charge of Cavite. Draper, on leaving,
-gave orders for two frigates to go in search of the “Philipino”
-treasure. The ships got as far as Capul Island and put into harbor. They
-were detained there by a ruse on the part of a half-caste pilot, and
-the treasure was got away in the meantime.
-
-Simon de Anda, from his provincial retreat, proclaimed himself
-governor-general. He declared that the archbishop and the magistrates,
-as prisoners of war, were dead in the eye of the law; and that his
-assumption of authority was based upon old laws. None of his countrymen
-disputed his authority, and he established himself in Bacolor. The
-British council then convened a meeting of the chief inhabitants, at
-which Anda was declared a seditious person and deserving of capital
-punishment, together with the Marquis of Monte Castro, who had violated
-his parole d’honneur, and the provincial of the Austin friars, who had
-joined the rebel party. All the Austin friars were declared traitors for
-having broken their allegiance to the archbishop’s authority. The
-British still pressed for the payment of the one million, while the
-Spaniards declared they possessed no more. The Austin friars were
-ordered to keep the natives peaceable if they did not wish to provoke
-hostilities against themselves. At length, the British, convinced of the
-futility of decrees, determined to sally out with their forces; and five
-hundred men under Thomas Backhouse went up the Pasig River to secure a
-free passage for supplies to the camp. While opposite Maybonga, Bustos,
-with his Cagayan troops, fired on them. The British returned the fire,
-and Bustos fled to Mariquina. The British passed the river, and sent an
-officer with a white flag of truce to summon surrender. Bustos was
-insolent, and threatened to hang the officer if he returned. Backhouse’s
-troops then opened fire and placed two field pieces which completely
-scared the natives, who fled in such great confusion that many were
-drowned in the river. Thence the British pursued their enemy “as if they
-were a flock of goats,” and reached the Bamban River, where the Sultan
-of Sulu resided with his family. The sultan, after a feigned resistance,
-fell a prisoner to the British, who fortified his dwelling, and occupied
-it during the whole of the operations. There were subsequent skirmishes
-on the Pasig River banks with the armed insurgents, who were driven as
-far as the Antipolo Mountains.
-
-Meanwhile, Anda collected troops; and Bustos, as his lieutenant-general,
-vaunted the power of his chief through the Bulacan and Pampanga
-provinces. A Franciscan and an Austin friar, having led troops to
-Masilo, about seven miles from Manila, the British went out to dislodge
-them, but on their approach most of the natives feigned they were dead,
-and the British returned without any loss in arms or men.
-
-The British, believing that the Austin friars were conspiring against
-them in connivance with those inside the city, placed these friars in
-confinement, and subsequently shipped away eleven of them to Europe. For
-the same reason, they at last determined to enter the St. Augustine
-Convent, and on ransacking it they found that the priests had been lying
-to them all the time. Six thousand dollars in coin were found hidden in
-the garden, and large quantities of wrought silver elsewhere. The whole
-premises were then searched and all the valuables were seized. A British
-expedition went out to Bulacan, sailing across the bay and up the
-Hagonoy River, where they disembarked at Malolos on the 19th of January,
-1763. The troops, under Captain Eslay, of the Grenadiers, numbered six
-hundred men, many of whom were Chinese volunteers. As they advanced from
-Malolos, the natives and Spaniards fled. On the way to Bulacan, Bustos
-advanced to meet them, but retreated into ambush on seeing they were
-superior in numbers. Bulacan Convent was fortified with three small
-cannon. As soon as the troops were in sight of the convent, a desultory
-fire of case-shot made great havoc in the ranks of the Chinese forming
-the British vanguard. At length the British brought their field pieces
-into action, and pointing at the enemy’s cannon, the first discharge
-carried off the head of their artilleryman Ybarra. The panic-stricken
-natives decamped; the convent was taken by assault; there was an
-indiscriminate fight and general slaughter. The alcalde and a Franciscan
-friar fell in action; one Austin friar escaped, and another was seized
-and killed to avenge the death of the British soldiers. The invading
-forces occupied the convent, and some of the troops were shortly sent
-back to Manila. Bustos reappeared near the Bulacan convent with eight
-thousand native troops, of which six hundred were cavalry, but they
-dared not attack the British. Bustos then maneuvered in the neighborhood
-and made occasional alarms. Small parties were sent out against him with
-so little effect that the British commander headed a body in person, and
-put the whole of Bustos’ troops to flight like mosquitoes before a gust
-of wind, for Bustos feared they would be pursued into Pampanga. After
-clearing away the underwood, which served as a covert for the natives,
-the British reoccupied the convent; but Bustos returned to his position,
-and was a second time as disgracefully routed by the British, who then
-withdrew to Manila.
-
-At the same time, it was alleged that a conspiracy was being organized
-among the Chinese in the Province of Pampanga with the object of
-assassinating Anda and his Spanish followers. The Chinese cut trenches
-and raised fortifications, avowing that their bellicose preparations
-were only to defend themselves against the possible attack of the
-British; while the Spaniards saw in all this a connivance with the
-invaders. The latter, no doubt, conjectured rightly. Anda, acting upon
-the views of his party, precipitated matters by appearing with fourteen
-Spanish soldiers and a crowd of native bowmen to commence the slaughter
-in the town of Guagua. The Chinese assembled there in great numbers, and
-Anda endeavored in vain to induce them to surrender to him. He then sent
-a Spaniard, named Miguel Garces, with a message, offering them pardon in
-the name of the King of Spain if they would lay down their arms; but
-they killed the emissary, and Anda therefore commenced the attack. The
-result was favorable for Anda’s party, and great numbers of the Chinese
-were slain. Many fled to the fields, where they were pursued by the
-troops, while those who were captured were hanged. Such was the
-inveterate hatred which Anda entertained for the Chinese, that he issued
-a general decree declaring all the Chinese traitors to the Spanish flag,
-and ordered them to be hanged wherever they might be found in the
-provinces. Thus thousands of Chinese were executed who had taken no part
-whatever in the events of this little war.
-
-Admiral Cornish, having decided to return to Europe, again urged for
-the payment of the two millions of dollars. The archbishop was in great
-straits; he was willing to do anything, but his colleagues opposed him,
-and Cornish was at length obliged to content himself with a bill on the
-Madrid treasury. Anda appointed Bustos alcalde of Bulacan, and ordered
-him to recruit and train troops, as he still nurtured the hope of
-confining the British to Manila--perhaps even of driving them out of the
-colony.
-
-The British in the city were compelled to adopt the most rigorous
-precautions against a rising of the population within the walls, and
-several Spanish residents were arrested for intriguing against them in
-concert with those outside.
-
-Several French prisoners from Pondicherry deserted from the British; and
-some Spanish regular troops, who had been taken prisoners, effected
-their escape. The fiscal of the supreme court and a Senor Villa Corta
-were found conspiring. The latter was caught in the act of sending a
-letter to Anda, and was sentenced to be hanged and quartered--the
-quarters to be exhibited in public places. The archbishop, however,
-obtained Villa Corta’s pardon, on the condition that Anda should
-evacuate the Pampanga Province; and Villa Corta wrote to Anda, begging
-him to accede to this, but Anda absolutely refused to make any sacrifice
-to save his friend’s life; and at the same time he wrote a disgraceful
-letter to the archbishop, couched in such insulting terms that the
-British commander burned it without letting the archbishop see it. Villa
-Corta was finally ransomed by the payment of three thousand dollars.
-
-The treasure brought by the “Philipino” served Anda to organize a
-respectable force of recruits. Spaniards who were living there in
-misery, and a crowd of natives always ready for pay, enlisted. These
-forces, under Lieutenant-general Bustos, encamped at Malinta, about five
-miles from Manila. The officers lodged in a house belonging to the
-Austin friars, around which the troops pitched their tents--the whole
-being defended by redoubts and palisades raised under the direction of a
-French deserter, who led a company. From this place Bustos constantly
-caused alarm to the British troops, who once had to retreat before a
-picket guard sent to get the church bells of Quiapo. The British, in
-fact, were much molested by Bustos’ Malinta troops, who forced the
-invaders to withdraw to Manila and reduce the extension of their
-outposts. This measure was followed up by a proclamation, in which the
-British commander alluded to Bustos’ troops as “canaille and robbers,”
-and offered a reward of five thousand dollars for Anda’s head; declaring
-him and his party rebels and traitors to their majesties the kings of
-Spain and England. Anda, chafing at his impotence to combat the invading
-party by force of arms, gave vent to his feelings of rage and
-disappointment by issuing a decree, dated from Bacolor the 19th of May,
-1763, of which the translated text reads as follows:
-
-“Royal Government Tribunal of these Islands for His Catholic Majesty:
-Whereas the Royal Government Tribunal, Supreme Government and
-Captain-Generalship of His Catholic Majesty in these Islands are gravely
-offended at the audacity and blindness of those men, who, forgetting all
-humanity, have condemned as rebellious and disobedient to both their
-Majesties, him, who as a faithful vassal of His Catholic Majesty, and in
-conformity with the law, holds the Royal Tribunal, Government and
-Captain-Generalship; and having suffered by a reward being offered by
-order of the British Governor in council to whomsoever shall deliver me
-alive or dead; and by their having placed the arms captured in Bulacan
-at the foot of the gallows--seeing that instead of their punishing and
-reproaching such execrable proceedings, the spirit of haughtiness and
-pride is increasing, as shown in the Proclamation published in Manila on
-the 17th instant, in which the troops of His Majesty are infamously
-calumniated--treating them as blackguards and disaffected to their
-service--charging them with plotting to assassinate the English officers
-and soldiers, and with having fled when attacked--the whole of these
-accusations being false: Now therefore by these presents, be it known to
-all Spaniards and true Englishmen that Messrs. Drake, Smith and Brock,
-who signed the Proclamation referred to, must not be considered as
-vassals of His Britannic Majesty, but as tyrants and common enemies
-unworthy of human society, and therefore, I order that they be
-apprehended as such, and I offer ten thousand dollars for each one of
-them alive or dead. At the same time, I withdraw the order to treat the
-vassals of his Britannic Majesty with all the humanity which the rights
-of war will permit, as has been practiced hitherto with respect to the
-prisoners and deserters.”
-
-Anda had by this time received the consent of his king to occupy the
-position which he had usurped, and the British commander was thus
-enabled to communicate officially with, him, if occasion required it;
-and Drake replied to this proclamation, recommending Anda to carry on
-the war with greater moderation and humanity.
-
-On the 27th of June, 1763, the British made a sortie from the city to
-dislodge Bustos, who still occupied Malinta. The attacking party
-consisted of three hundred and fifty fusileers, fifty horsemen, a mob of
-Chinese, and a number of guns and ammunition. The British took up
-quarters on one side of the river, while Bustos remained on the other.
-The opposing parties exchanged fire, but neither cared nor dared to
-cross the waterway. The British forces retired in good order to Masilo,
-and remained there until they heard that Bustos had burned Malinta House
-and removed his camp to Meycauayan. Then the British withdrew to Manila
-in the evening. On the Spanish side there were two killed, five mortally
-wounded and two slightly wounded. The British losses were six mortally
-wounded and seven disabled. This was the last encounter in open warfare.
-Chinamen occasionally lost their lives through their love of plunder in
-the vicinity occupied by the British.
-
-During these operations, the priesthood taught the ignorant natives to
-believe that the invading troops were infidels--and a holy war was
-preached.
-
-The friars, especially those of the Augustine order,[14] abandoned their
-mission of peace for that of the sword, and the British met with a
-slight reverse at Masilo, where a religious fanatic of the Austin
-friars had put himself at the head of a small hand lying in ambush.
-
-On the 23d of July, 1763, a British frigate brought news from Europe of
-an armistice--and the preliminaries of peace, by virtue of which Manila
-was to be evacuated (Peace of Paris, 10th of February, 1763), were
-received by the British commander on the 27th of August following,
-and communicated by him to the archbishop-governor for the
-“commander-in-chief” of the Spanish arms. Anda stood on his dignity and
-protested that he should be addressed directly, and be styled
-captain-general. On this plea he declined to receive the communication.
-Drake replied by a manifesto, dated 19th of September, to the effect
-that the responsibility of the blood which might be spilled, in
-consequence of Anda’s refusal to accept his notification, would rest
-with him. Anda published a counter manifesto, dated 28th of September,
-in Bacolor (Pampanga), protesting that he had not been treated with
-proper courtesy.
-
-Greater latitude was allowed to the prisoners, and Villa Corta effected
-his escape dressed as a woman. He fled to Anda--the co-conspirator who
-had refused to save his life--and their superficial friendship was
-renewed. Villa Corta was left in charge of business in Bacolor during
-Anda’s temporary absence. Meanwhile the archbishop fell ill; and it was
-discussed who should be his successor in the government in the event of
-his death. Villa Corta argued that it fell to him as senior magistrate.
-The discussion came to the knowledge of Anda, and seriously aroused his
-jealousy. Fearing conspiracy against his ambitious projects, he left his
-camp at Polo, and hastened to interrogate Villa Corta, who explained
-that he had only made casual remarks in the course of conversation.
-Anda, however, was restless on the subject of the succession, and sought
-the opinion of all the chief priests and bishops. Various opinions
-existed. Some urged that the decision be left to the supreme
-court--others were in favor of Anda--while many abstained from
-expressing their views. Anda was so nervously anxious about the matter,
-that he even begged the opinion of the British commander, and wrote him
-on the subject from Bacolor on the 2d of November, 1763.
-
-Major Fell seriously quarreled with Drake about the Frenchman Faller,
-whom Admiral Cornish had left under sentence of death for having written
-a letter to Java accusing him of being a pirate and a robber. Drake
-protected Faller, while Fell demanded the execution of the prisoner; and
-the dispute became so heated that Fell was about to slay Drake with a
-bayonet, but was prevented by some soldiers. Fell then went to London to
-complain of Drake, hence Anda’s letter was addressed to Backhouse, who
-took Fell’s place. Anda, who months since had refused to negotiate or
-treat with Drake, still insisted upon being styled captain-general.
-Backhouse replied that he was ignorant of the Spaniards’ statutes or
-laws, but that he knew the governor was the archbishop. Anda thereupon
-spread the report that the British commander had forged the
-preliminaries of peace because he could no longer hold out in warfare.
-The British necessarily had to send to the provinces to purchase
-provisions, and Anda caused their forage parties to be attacked, so that
-the war really continued, in spite of the news of peace, until the 30th
-of January, 1764. On this day the archbishop died, sorely grieved at the
-situation, and weighed down with cares. He had engaged to pay four
-millions of dollars and surrender the islands, but could he indeed have
-refused any terms? The British were in possession; and these conditions
-were dictated at the point of the bayonet.
-
-Immediately after the funeral of the archbishop, Anda received
-dispatches from the King of Spain, by way of China, confirming the news
-of peace to his governor at Manila. Then the British acknowledged Anda
-as governor, and proceeded to evacuate the city; but rival factions were
-not so easily set aside, and fierce quarrels ensued between the
-respective parties of Anda, Villa Corta and Ustariz, as to who should be
-governor and receive the city officially from the British. Anda, being
-actually in command of the troops, had the game in his hands. The
-conflict was happily terminated by the arrival at Marinduque of the
-newly appointed governor-general from Spain--Don Francisco de la Torre.
-A galley was sent there by Anda to bring his excellency to Luzon, and he
-arrived at Bacolor, where Anda resigned the government to him on the
-17th of March, 1764.
-
-La Torre sent a message to Backhouse and Brereton--the commanding
-officers at Manila and Cavite--stating that he was ready to take over
-the city in due form. La Torre thereupon took up his residence in Santa
-Cruz, placed a Spanish guard with sentinels from that ward as far as the
-Great Bridge (Puente de Barcas, now called Puente de España), where the
-British advance guard was, and friendly communication took place.
-Governor Drake was indignant at being ignored in all these proceedings,
-and ordered the Spanish governor to withdraw his guards, under threat of
-appealing to force. Backhouse and Brereton resented this rudeness, and
-ordered the troops under arms to arrest Drake, whose hostile action, due
-to jealousy, they declared unwarrantable. Drake, being apprised of their
-intentions, escaped from the city with his suite, embarked on board a
-frigate, and sailed off.
-
-La Torre was said to be indisposed on the day appointed for receiving
-the city. Some assert that he feigned his indisposition, as he did not
-wish to arouse Anda’s animosity, and desired to afford him an
-opportunity of displaying himself as a delegate at least of the highest
-local authority by receiving the city from the British, while he
-pampered his pride by allowing him to enter triumphantly into it. As the
-city exchanged masters, the Spanish flag was hoisted once more on the
-fort of Santiago amid the hurrahs of the populace and artillery salutes.
-
-Before embarking, Brereton offered to do justice to any claims which
-might be legitimately established against the British authorities. Hence
-a sloop loaned to Drake, valued at four thousand dollars, was paid for
-to the Jesuits, and the three thousand dollars paid to ransom Villa
-Corta’s life was returned; Brereton remarking that, if the sentence
-against him were valid, it should have been executed at the time, but it
-could not be commuted by money payment. At the instance of the British
-authorities, a free pardon was granted and published to the Chinese, few
-of whom, however, confided in it, and many left with the retiring army.
-Brereton, with his forces, embarked for India, after dispatching a
-packet-boat to restore the Sultan of Sulu to his throne.
-
-During this convulsed period, great atrocities were committed.
-Unfortunately the common felons were released by the English from their
-prisons, and used their liberty to perpetrate murders and robbery in
-alliance with those always naturally bent that way. So great did this
-evil become, so bold were the marauders, that in time they formed large
-parties, infested highways, attacked plantations, and the poor peasantry
-had to flee, leaving their cattle and all their belongings in their
-power. Several avenged themselves of the friars for old scores, others
-settled accounts with those Europeans who had tyrannized them of old.
-The Chinese, whether so-called Christians or pagans, declared for and
-aided the British.
-
-The proceedings of the choleric Simon de Anda y Salazar were approved by
-his sovereign, but his impetuous disposition drove from him his best
-counselors, while those who were bold enough to uphold their opinions
-against his were accused of connivance with the British. Communications
-with Europe were scant indeed in those days, but Anda could not have
-been altogether ignorant of the causes of the war, which terminated with
-the Treaty of Paris.
-
-On his return to Spain, after the appointment of La Torre as
-governor-general, he succeeded in retaining the favor of the king, who
-conferred several honors on him, making him Councilor of Castile, etc.
-In the meantime Jose Raon, who replaced La Torre, had fallen into
-disgrace, and Anda was appointed to the governor-generalship of the
-islands.
-
-There is perhaps no imperiousness so intolerant as that of an official
-who vaunts his authority by the reflected light of his powerful patron.
-Anda on his arrival avenged himself of his opposers in all directions.
-He imprisoned his predecessor, several judges, military officials and
-others; some he sent back to Spain, others he banished from the capital.
-Thus he brought trouble upon himself. From all sides hostile resistance
-increased. He quarreled with the clergy; but when his irascible temper
-had exhausted itself in the course of six years, he retired to a convent
-of the Austin friars, where he expired in 1776, much to the relief of
-his numerous adversaries.
-
-Consequent on the troubled state of the colony, a serious rebellion
-arose in Ylogan (Cagayan Province), among the Timava natives, who
-flogged the commandant, and declared they would no longer pay tribute to
-the Spaniards. The revolt spread to Ilocos and Pangasinan, but the
-ringleaders were caught, and tranquillity was restored by the gallows.
-
-A rising far more important occurred in Ilocos Sur. The alcalde was
-deposed, and escaped after he had been forced to give up his staff of
-office. The leader of this revolt was a cunning and cute Manila native,
-named Diego de Silan, who persuaded the people to cease paying tribute,
-and declare against the Spaniards, who, he pointed out, were unable to
-resist the English. The city of Vigan was in great commotion. The
-vicar-general parleyed with the natives; and then, collecting his
-troops, the rebels were dispersed, while some were taken prisoners; but
-the bulk of the rioters rallied and attacked, and burned down part of
-the city. The loyal natives fled before the flames. The vicar-general’s
-house was taken, and the arms in it were seized. All the Austin friars
-within a large surrounding neighborhood had to ransom themselves by
-money payments. Silan was then acknowledged as chief over a large
-territory north and south of Vigan. He appointed his lieutenants, and
-issued a manifesto declaring Jesus of Nazareth to be captain-general of
-the place, and that he was his alcalde for the promotion of the Catholic
-religion and dominion of the King of Spain. His manifesto was wholly
-that of a religious fanatic. He obliged the natives to attend mass, to
-confess, and to see that their children went to school. In the midst of
-all this pretended piety, he robbed cattle and exacted ransoms for the
-lives of all those who could pay them; he levied a tax of one hundred
-dollars on each friar. Under the pretense of keeping out the British, he
-placed sentinels in all directions to prevent news reaching the terrible
-Simon de Anda. But Anda, though fully informed by an Austin friar of
-what transpired, had not sufficient troops to march north. He sent a
-requisition to Silan to present himself within nine days, under penalty
-of arrest as a traitor. While this order was published, vague reports
-were intentionally spread that the Spaniards were coming to Ilocos in
-great force. Many deserted Silan, but he contrived to deceive even the
-clergy and others by his feigned piety. Silan sent presents to Manila
-for the British, acknowledging the King of England to be his legitimate
-sovereign. The British governor sent, in return, a vessel bearing
-dispatches to Silan, appointing him alcalde mayor. Elated with pride,
-Silan at once made this public. The natives were undeceived, for they
-had counted on him to deliver them from the British; now, to their
-dismay, they saw him the authorized magistrate of the invader. He gave
-orders to make all the Austin friars prisoners, saying that the British
-would send other clergy in their stead. The friars surrendered
-themselves without resistance and joined their bishop near Vigan,
-awaiting the pleasure of Silan. The bishop excommunicated Silan, and
-then he released some of the priests. The Christian natives having
-refused to slay the friars, a secret compact was being made, with this
-object, with the mountain tribes, when a half-caste named Vicos obtained
-the bishop’s benediction to go and kill Silan; and the rebellion, which
-had lasted from December 14, 1762, to May 28, 1763, ended.
-
-Not until a score of little battles had been fought were the numerous
-riots in the provinces quelled. The loyal troops were divided into
-sections, and marched north in several directions, until peace was
-restored by March, 1765. Zuniga says that the Spaniards lost in these
-riots about seventy Europeans and one hundred and forty natives, while
-they cost the rebels quite ten thousand men.
-
-Space will not permit us to cite all the revolutionary protests which
-ensued. In the time of Legaspi the submission of the Manila and Tondo
-chiefs was of but local and temporary importance. Since then, and in
-fact since the very beginning up to the present time, the natives have
-only yielded to a force which they have repeatedly tried to overthrow.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-THE HISPANO-AMERICAN WAR
-
-THE “MAINE”--THE COURT OF INQUIRY--THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE--DEWEY AT
-MANILA--HOBSON AND THE “MERRIMAC”--CERVERA’S RUN TO RUIN--THE
-CAPITULATION OF SANTIAGO--THE MISSION OF PEACE
-
-
-When General Weyler assumed command in Cuba he issued, October 21, 1896,
-the following proclamation:
-
- “I order and command:
-
- First--All the inhabitants of the country now outside of the line
- of fortifications of the towns shall within the period of eight
- days concentrate themselves in the towns so occupied by the troops.
- Any individual who after the expiration of this period is found in
- the uninhabited parts will be considered a rebel and tried as
- such.”
-
-At the time when the order was issued there was living within the
-western province a population of four hundred thousand men, women and
-children. The result of the order was to sweep them from their homes and
-fields and confine them in open-air prisons. No food whatever was
-supplied to them. As a result more than half of them died.
-
-The indignation aroused became widespread. Weyler was recalled. At the
-time, especially in Havana among the officials who had been his
-adherents and who resented his recall, there was an expressed hatred of
-the United States. That hatred it is generally understood resulted, on
-the night of February 15, 1898, in the blowing up of the “Maine.”
-
-The dispatch of this vessel to Cuban waters was a friendly act arranged
-by our government and that of Spain as one of a series of visits to be
-paid by the ironclads of the two countries to each other’s harbors.
-While the “Viscaya” was en route for New York the “Maine” went to
-Havana. The harbor there was subsequently shown to have been sown with
-explosives.
-
-The findings of the Court of Inquiry, which was then held, as embodied
-in the report of the Foreign Relations Committee, set forth that the
-destruction of the “Maine” was either compassed by the official act of
-the Spanish authorities, or was made possible by negligence on their
-part so willful and gross as to be equivalent to criminal culpability.
-
-The line of argument is as follows: It is established that the “Maine”
-was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine in position under her
-in a Spanish harbor, at a place where she had been moored to a buoy by
-the express direction and guidance of the Spanish authorities.
-
-The report of the Spanish board of inquiry, which reported, after the
-most inadequate examination, that the explosion was due to the fault of
-the officers of the “Maine,” and took place within the vessel itself,
-was declared to be manifestly false, and calculated to induce public
-opinion to prejudge the question. Taking this together with the fact of
-the duplicity, treachery, and cruelty of the Spanish character, the
-Senate concluded that the Spanish authorities must be held responsible
-for the crime, either as its direct authors or as contributors thereto
-by willful and gross negligence.
-
-Spain offered to refer the question as to the cause of the loss of the
-“Maine” and their responsibility for the catastrophe to arbitration. The
-President made no reply.
-
-On April 11, anterior circumstances already sufficiently recited, joined
-to the findings of the American Commissioners, resulted in the President
-sending a message to Congress, in which he said:
-
- “The long trial has proved that the object for which Spain has
- waged the war cannot be attained. The fire of insurrection may
- flame or may smolder with varying seasons, but it has not been, and
- it is plain that it cannot be, extinguished by present methods. The
- only hope of relief and repose from a condition which can no longer
- be endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba.
-
- “In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of
- endangered American interests which give us the right and the duty
- to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop.
-
- “In view of these facts and of these considerations, I ask the
- Congress to authorize and empower the President to take measures to
- secure a full and final termination of hostilities between the
- government of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure in the
- island the establishment of a stable government capable of
- maintaining order and observing its international obligations,
- insuring peace and tranquillity, and the security of its citizens
- as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces of the
- United States as may be necessary for these purposes.
-
- “_William McKinley._”
-
-
-
-On April 19, Congress passed the following:
-
-
-
- _Joint resolution for the recognition of the independence of the
- people of Cuba, demanding that the government of Spain
- relinquish its authority and government in the island of
- Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from
- Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of
- the United States to use the land and naval forces of the
- United States to carry these resolutions into effect._
-
- “_Whereas_, The abhorrent conditions which have existed for more
- than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders,
- have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States,
- have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as
- they have, in the destruction of a United States battleship, with
- two hundred and sixty of its officers and crew, while on a friendly
- visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured, as has
- been set forth by the President of the United States in his message
- to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress
- was invited; therefore be it resolved,
-
- “First--That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right
- ought to be, free and independent.
-
- “Second--That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and
- the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the
- government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government
- in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from
- Cuba and Cuban waters.
-
- “Third--That the President of the United States be, and he hereby
- is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces
- of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the
- United States the militia of the several States to such an extent
- as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.
-
- “Fourth--That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or
- intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over
- said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its
- determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and
- control of the island to its people.”
-
-The ultimatum embodied in the foregoing being rejected by Spain,
-diplomatic relations were severed and hostilities ensued.
-
-On May 1, at daybreak, the Asiatic squadron, commanded by Commodore
-Dewey, arrived at Manila from Hong Kong. At Cavite, within the harbor,
-protected by four batteries, lay the Spanish fleet. It was commanded by
-Admiral Patricio Montojo. The squadron proceeded up the bay unmolested
-and made for the naval station. Two mines were exploded, but
-ineffectively. At five o’clock and ten minutes the Spaniards opened
-fire. Commodore Dewey set the signals, and his entire squadron advanced
-to short range. The squadron consisted of the following cruisers and
-gunboats: “Olympia,” “Baltimore,” “Boston,” “Raleigh,” “Concord,”
-“Petrel,” and “McCulloch.”
-
-At 5.30 the “Olympia’s” 8-inch guns opened, and the squadron swung in
-front of the Spanish ships and forts in single file, firing their port
-guns. Then, wheeling, they passed back, firing their starboard guns.
-This maneuver was repeated five times, the entire American fleet
-passing all the Spanish ships and batteries at each maneuver, and each
-time drawing in closer and closer and delivering fire at more deadly
-range. During two hours and a half there was tremendous resistance by
-the Spaniards. They had eleven ships and five land batteries in full
-play, against six American warships. But the American marksmanship was
-faultless. Every shot seemed to count against ship or shore battery,
-while most of the Spanish powder was burned in vain. At 7.45 A.M. the
-American fleet withdrew to ascertain damages and permit the smoke to
-clear. It was seen then that several Spanish ships were crippled or
-burning, and it was found that the American vessels had suffered hardly
-at all. Admiral Dewey called his captains into consultation and
-arrangements were made for another attack. At 10.40 the attack was
-renewed, the “Baltimore” leading. She advanced right upon the enemy,
-shelling them constantly, and the other Americans followed, working
-their guns as rapidly as they could load and fire. The effect of this
-assault was terrific. Ship after ship of the Spaniards sunk or was run
-ashore to keep them from sinking or falling into American hands. At
-12.45 P.M. the Spaniards struck their colors in token of surrender.
-Admiral Patricio Montojo fled to Manila, and most of the survivors fled
-with him. This ended the work of May 1.
-
-On May 2, Commodore Dewey landed a force of marines at Cavite. They
-completed the destruction of the Spanish fleet and batteries and
-established a guard for the protection of the Spanish hospitals. The
-resistance of the forts was weak. The “Olympia” turned a few guns on
-the Cavite arsenal, and its magazine at once exploded, killing some and
-wounding many. This practically ended the fire from the batteries, the
-Spanish artillerists fearing to face the American gunners. “Remember the
-‘Maine’!” was the word continually passed between the ships, and every
-American officer, every “Jackie,” was eager to do his utmost.
-
-After Manila and the defeat of Admiral Montojo, the successive and
-concluding events of the Hispano-American war include Admiral Sampson’s
-bombardment of San Juan; Hobson’s heroic experiment with the “Merrimac”;
-General Shafter’s campaign; the destruction of Cervera’s squadron; the
-capitulation of Santiago; General Miles’s tour in Porto Rico, and the
-overtures for peace. These events may be conveniently summarized as
-follows:
-
-The bombardment of San Juan was the result of a reconnaissance. The
-Spanish fleet, under command of Admiral Cervera, which it was the
-purpose of the Americans to capture or destroy, subsequently sought and
-found shelter within the harbor of Santiago, the entrance to which
-Admiral Sampson then proceeded to invest. There, while waiting to engage
-the enemy, it was thought wise to attempt to block the harbor and so
-prevent a possible escape. The plan originated with Lieutenant Hobson,
-and its execution was left to him. On the night of June 3, with a picked
-crew of seven volunteers, he steamed up in the collier “Merrimac” to the
-harbor’s entrance and sank her. From the fleet the progress of the
-“Merrimac” was eagerly followed.
-
-At 3.15 the first Spanish shot was fired, coming from one of the guns on
-the hill to the west of the entrance. The shot was seen to splash
-seaward from the “Merrimac,” having passed over her. The firing became
-general very soon afterward, being especially fierce and rapid from the
-batteries inside on the left of the harbor, probably from batteries on
-Smith Cay. The flashes and reports were apparently those of rapid-fire
-guns, ranging from small automatic guns to four-inch or larger. For
-fifteen minutes a perfect fusillade was kept up. Then the fire
-slackened, and by 3.30 had almost ceased. There was a little desultory
-firing until about 3.45, when all became quiet. Daylight came at about
-five o’clock.
-
-At about 5.15 A.M., a launch, which, under Cadet Powell, had followed
-the “Merrimac,” in order if possible to rescue Hobson and his men, was
-seen steaming from west to east, near or across the mouth of the harbor.
-She steamed back from east to west and began skirting the coast to the
-west of the entrance. The battery on the hill to the left opened fire on
-her, but did not make good practice. The launch continued her course as
-far westward as a small cove and then headed for the “Texas,” steaming
-at full speed. Several shots were fired at her from the battery on the
-left as she steamed out.
-
-It was broad daylight by this time. Cadet Powell came alongside the
-“Texas” and reported that “No one had come out of the entrance of the
-harbor.” His words sounded like the death knell of all who had gone in
-on the “Merrimac.” It seemed incredible, almost impossible, any of them
-could have lived through the awful fire that was directed at the ship.
-Cadet Powell said that he had followed behind the ship at a distance of
-four or five hundred yards. Hobson missed the entrance of the harbor at
-first, having gone too far to the westward; he almost ran aground. The
-launch picked up the entrance and directed the “Merrimac” in. From the
-launch the collier was seen until she rounded the bend of the channel
-and until the helm had been put to port to swing her into position
-across the channel. There was probably no one in the fleet who did not
-think that all seven of the men had perished. In the afternoon, much to
-the surprise of every one, a tug flying a flag of truce was seen coming
-out of the entrance. The “Vixen,” flying a tablecloth at the fore, went
-to meet the tug. A Spanish officer went aboard the “Vixen” from the tug
-and was taken aboard the flagship. Not long afterward a signal was made
-that Murphy of the “Iowa” was saved and was a prisoner of war. About
-four o’clock another signal was made from the flagship: “Collier’s crew
-prisoners of war; two slightly wounded. All well.”
-
-It can be easily imagined what relief this signal brought to all hands,
-who had been mourning the death of all these men. The Spanish officer
-said also that the prisoners were confined in Morro Castle. He said
-further that Admiral Cervera considered the attempt to run in and sink
-the “Merrimac” across the channel an act of such great bravery and
-desperate daring that he (the Admiral) thought it very proper that our
-naval officers should be notified of the safety of these men. Whatever
-the motive for sending out the tug with the flag of truce, the act was a
-most graceful one, and one of most chivalrous courtesy. The Spanish
-officer is reported to have said: “You have made it more difficult, but
-we can still get out.”
-
-The daring evinced by Hobson was instantly recognized, but the
-importance of his achievement was not appreciated until July 3, when
-Cervera’s desperate attempt to escape, would, in all likelihood, have
-been partly successful but for the fact that his vessels were obliged to
-leave the harbor in single file.
-
-Let us, however, recapitulate in their order the events which followed
-the sinking of the “Merrimac,” news whereof was received on June 4. On
-June 5, a bombardment of the Morro Castle, commanding the mouth of
-Santiago Harbor, took place, but no serious impression seems to have
-been made upon the fortress at that time, although some neighboring
-earthworks were destroyed. Two days later, there was a more effective
-bombardment of the harbor fortifications by Admiral Sampson, but the
-Morro Castle still held out and protected the entrance to the port by
-its ability to deliver a plunging fire. On June 9, it was known that
-twelve thousand men, or about half of our regular army, together with a
-number of volunteer regiments, under General Shafter, had set sail from
-Tampa, and, on the following day, the Spaniards began preparations for a
-vigorous defense of Santiago against a land force by means of carefully
-planned intrenchments. On June 11, a body of United States marines
-landed at Guantanamo Bay, and, on the three ensuing days, sustained
-successfully determined assaults by the Spaniards. On June 15, the
-“Vesuvius,” carrying a pneumatic gun, which discharges a tube loaded
-with dynamite, arrived off Santiago, and fully justified the
-expectations of her inventor by the efficient part which she took in the
-bombardment. Since June 7, the Spaniards had attempted to repair the
-Santiago forts, and had, to some extent, succeeded in doing so;
-consequently, on June 16, Admiral Sampson ordered the ships to open fire
-on them again, and, in this assault, is said to have discharged five
-hundred thousand pounds of metal.
-
-It was not until June 22, or thirteen days after his departure from
-Tampa, that General Shafter landed his troops at Baiquiri, a point on
-the coast some miles southwest of Santiago. There was furious fighting
-during the three following days, and there was a grievous loss of life
-on the American side, infantry and dismounted cavalry having been
-ordered or allowed to attack intrenchments without artillery support.
-The necessity of heavy siege guns was at once clear to professional
-soldiers, but these could not be moved from the transports to the shore,
-because only one lighter had been brought from Tampa, and even that one
-had been lost. This loss could have been quickly repaired, had not
-General Shafter refused to take with him from Tampa the signal train
-that had been made ready for him, on the ground that he “only wanted men
-who could carry muskets.” The result of this indifference to a branch of
-the service which constitutes the eyes, ears and voice of a modern army,
-was that it required two days to transmit a request from Shafter’s
-headquarters to the point where the cable could be used. On June 29, not
-having, as yet, any heavy siege guns in position, and not having so
-surrounded the city as to prevent the re-enforcement or escape of its
-garrison, General Shafter telegraphed to Washington: “I can take
-Santiago in forty-eight hours.” On July 1 and 2, General Shafter made
-resolute assaults upon the Spanish intrenchments and carried many of
-them, advancing his own lines very much nearer the city. The advantage
-thus gained, however, had cost him a considerable fraction of his force.
-The whole number of Americans killed, wounded and missing during the
-land operations reached ten per cent of the number with which General
-Shafter landed on June 22. Of these land engagements the most notable
-were those of Aguadores, El Caney and San Juan.
-
-The battle of San Juan is described as follows:
-
-The dawn of July 1 found the troops of Wheeler’s division bivouacked on
-the eminence of El Pozo. Kent’s division bivouacked near the road back
-of El Pozo. Grimes’s battery went into position about two hundred and
-fifty yards west of the ruined buildings of El Pozo soon after sunrise
-and prepared gun pits. Grimes’s battery opened fire against San Juan a
-little before 8 A.M. The troops of the cavalry division were scattered
-about on El Pozo Hill in the rear and around the battery, without order
-and with no view to their protection from the Spanish fire. This
-condition rectified itself when the Spaniards, after five or six shots
-by the American battery, replied with shrapnel fire at correct range and
-with accurately adjusted fuses, killing two men at the first shot After
-some firing soon after 9 A.M. Wheeler’s division was put in march toward
-Santiago. Crossing Aguadores stream, it turned to the right, under
-General Sumner, who was in command at that time owing to General
-Wheeler’s illness. Scattering shots were fired by the Spaniards before
-the arrival of the first troops at the crossing, but their volley
-firing did not commence until the dismounted cavalry went into position,
-crossing open ground. Kent’s division followed Wheeler’s, moving across
-the stream, and advanced along the road in close order under a severe
-enfilading fire. After advancing some distance, it turned off to the
-left. Lieutenant Ord (killed in battle) made a reconnaissance from a
-large tree on the banks of the stream.
-
-At about one o’clock, after a delay of nearly two hours’ waiting for the
-troops to reach their positions, the whole force advanced, charged, and
-carried the first line of intrenchments. They were afterward formed on
-the crest and there threw up intrenchments facing the second line at a
-distance of from five hundred to one thousand yards.
-
-We pass to the memorable naval combat of July 3, which annihilated
-Cervera’s squadron, and dealt the deathblow to Spain’s hope of making
-head against America on the sea. There is, of course, no foundation for
-the report that Admiral Cervera resolved to fly because he knew that
-Santiago would be immediately taken. The truth is that, on July 2, he
-received peremptory orders from Madrid to leave Santiago at once, no
-matter what might be the consequences; to engage the American fleet, and
-to make his way, if possible, to Havana, where he would raise the
-blockade. These orders he did his best to execute on the morning of July
-3, having been informed by signal that Admiral Sampson’s flagship, the
-“New York,” and a large part of the American fleet, were lying at some
-distance toward the east, and that only the “Brooklyn,” “Texas” and
-“Iowa” would have to be encountered if the escaping ships moved
-westward. There was a mistake in this computation, for the “Oregon” also
-took an important part in the action, and so did the little
-“Gloucester,” a converted yacht, which did not hesitate, single-handed,
-to engage both of the torpedo-boat destroyers. With such information as
-he could procure, however, Admiral Cervera believed that his ships could
-outsail all of those blockading the mouth of the harbor, except the
-“Brooklyn,” and that, if the “Brooklyn” could be disabled, some, at
-least, of his vessels could escape. Accordingly, orders were issued by
-the Spanish admiral to proceed at full speed to the westward after
-clearing the entrance, and to concentrate fire upon the “Brooklyn.” In
-the attempt to carry out this programme, the four warships, “Maria
-Teresa,” “Almirante Oquendo,” “Vizcaya” and “Cristobal Colon,” followed
-by the torpedo-boat destroyers “Pluton” and “Furor,” in the order named
-and in single file, pushed with all steam up through the narrow passage
-which had been left by the sunken “Merrimac.” The concerted endeavor to
-disable the “Brooklyn” failed, and it turned out that both the “Oregon”
-and “Texas” were faster than the “Cristobal Colon,” which was much the
-swiftest of the Spanish squadron. The “Maria Teresa,” the “Almirante
-Oquendo” and the “Vizcaya” were successively riddled and put _hors de
-combat_ by the rapid and accurate firing of the American ships, and were
-beached by their officers to avoid, not so much surrender, as the danger
-of explosion. The “Cristobal Colon” succeeded in reaching a point about
-fifty miles from Santiago, when it was headed off not only by the
-protected cruiser “Brooklyn,” but also by the ironclads “Oregon” and
-“Texas.” From that moment, escape was seen to be impossible, so the
-commander beached his ship and hauled down his flag. This closing
-incident of the battle took place at 1.20 P.M., almost exactly four
-hours after the leading vessel of the escaping column, the “Maria
-Teresa,” had passed the Morro. Meanwhile, the little “Gloucester,” under
-Commander Richard Wainwright, had stopped both of the torpedo-boat
-destroyers, received their fire, and detained them until an ironclad
-came up.
-
-It will be observed that the Spanish squadron did not have to contend
-with the whole of the American fleet, but that, on the contrary, the
-forces engaged were, on paper, much more nearly equal than is generally
-understood. The Americans had the first-class battleships “Oregon” and
-“Iowa,” the second-class battleship “Texas,” the protected cruiser
-“Brooklyn,” and the converted yacht “Gloucester.” The Spaniards, on
-their part, had one armored cruiser, three protected cruisers, and two
-torpedo-boat destroyers. It is certainly a remarkable fact, and one
-almost without a parallel in naval annals, if we except Dewey’s
-achievement at Manila, that not a single one of the Spanish vessels
-should have managed to escape. The honor of the almost unique victory at
-Santiago belongs, beyond a doubt, to Commodore Schley, for, at the
-beginning of the action, Admiral Sampson, in his flagship, the “New
-York,” was out of sight, and he remained out of signal distance until
-almost the end.
-
-Almost immediately after these incidents an expedition under command of
-General Miles proceeded to Porto Rico, where, on the southwest coast, at
-the little village of Guanica, a landing was effected on July 25.
-
-Twenty-four hours later, the Spanish Government, through M. Jules
-Cambon, the French Embassador at Washington, made a formal proposal for
-ending the war and arranging terms of peace.
-
-As a basis for peace negotiations it was stipulated that Spain should
-first relinquish her sovereignty over any part of the Western
-Hemisphere, that the Spanish forces in Porto Rico and Cuba should be
-withdrawn unassisted by the United States, and that Manila should be
-surrendered to the American forces.
-
-The aggressive operations of the American forces in Porto Rico and in
-the Philippines hastened the acceptance of these terms by Spain. The
-severest engagement of the campaign in Porto Rico was fought at Coamo on
-August 9. Here the Spanish commanding officer, Major Rafael M. Yllesca,
-was killed, after having defended his critical position with great
-bravery. From all sides the Americans now advanced upon San Juan de
-Porto Rico, the most important stronghold of the island.
-
-In the Philippines, likewise, events were nearing a crisis. On August 7
-Captain-General Augustin was served with a joint note from Admiral Dewey
-and General Merritt, commanding the American forces around Manila,
-advising him to remove all non-combatants in anticipation of attack.
-General Augustin refused to accept the responsibility of either
-defending or surrendering Manila, and accordingly resigned his command.
-General Fernain Jaudenes, who succeeded him, declined to remove his
-non-combatants in view of the threatening attitude of the Filipinos
-around Manila, and resolutely prepared for the worst.
-
-On August 12 the home government in Spain gave in, and authorized the
-French Embassador in Washington to sign the peace protocol agreed upon
-in behalf of Spain. The instrument was formally executed during the
-afternoon of the same day. Its exact text was as follows:
-
- _Protocol of agreement between the United States and Spain,
- embodying the terms of a basis for the establishment of peace
- between the two countries_:
-
-William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and his
-Excellency Jules Cambon, Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
-the Republic of France at Washington, respectively possessing for this
-purpose full authority from the Government of the United States and the
-Government of Spain, have concluded and signed the following articles,
-embodying the terms on which the two Governments have agreed in respect
-to the matters hereinafter set forth, having in view the establishment
-of peace between the two countries, that is to say:
-
-Article I. Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title
-to Cuba.
-
-Article II. Spain will cede to the United States the island of Porto
-Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies,
-and also an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the United States.
-
-Article III. The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay, and
-harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of the treaty of peace, which
-shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the
-Philippines.
-
-Article IV. Spain will immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico, and other
-islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies; and to this
-end each Government will, within ten days after the signing of this
-protocol, appoint Commissioners, and the Commissioners so appointed
-shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol, meet at
-Havana for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the
-aforesaid evacuation of Cuba and the adjacent Spanish islands, and each
-Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol,
-appoint other Commissioners, who shall, within thirty days after the
-signing of this protocol, meet at San Juan, in Porto Rico, for the
-purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid
-evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty
-in the West Indies.
-
-Article V. The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than
-five Commissioners to treat of peace, and the Commissioners so appointed
-shall meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898, and proceed to the
-negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, which treaty shall be
-subject to ratification according to the respective constitutional forms
-of the two countries.
-
-Article VI. Upon the conclusion and signing of this protocol hostilities
-between the two countries shall be suspended, and notice to that effect
-shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders
-of its military and naval forces.
-
-Done at Washington, in duplicate, in English and in French, by the
-undersigned, who have hereunto set their hands and seals, the 12th day
-of August, 1898.
-
-(Seal.) WILLIAM R. DAY.
-
-(Seal.) JULES CAMBON.
-
-An armistice was declared at once, and mutual orders were issued to
-cease hostilities. The blockade of Cuba was raised. Owing to delay in
-the transmission of these orders the war in the Philippines was
-continued for twenty-four hours. On August 13, General Fernain Jaudenes,
-who had succeeded Governor-General Augustin, succumbed to a combined
-attack of the American army and navy forces, and signed a formal
-capitulation with all the honors of war. The last battle of the war was
-a naval engagement off Caibarien, in Cuba, between the Spanish gunboat
-“Herman Cortes” and the American gunboat “Mangrove.” While the two
-vessels were still engaged the news of the suspension of hostilities was
-signaled from shore.
-
-On September 15 the Queen-Regent approved the appointment of the
-following Peace Commissioners: Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the
-Senate; Buenaventura Abarzuza, Senator; Wenceslao Ramirez de
-Villa-Urrutia, Embassador to Belgium; General Rafael Cerero y Saluz, and
-José de Garnica, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. Senor Ojeda
-served as secretary. The American Peace Commissioners were William R.
-Day, ex-Secretary of State; Senators Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye,
-and George Gray, with Whitelaw Reid, American Embassador to France. The
-joint sessions of the two bodies at Paris began on October 1, and ended
-with the signing of a conclusive peace treaty on December 10.
-
-The full text of the peace treaty was as follows:
-
- The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen-Regent of
- Spain, in the name of her august son, Don Alfonso XIII., desiring
- to end the state of war now existing between the two countries,
- have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries:
-
- The President of the United States:
-
- William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray, and
- Whitelaw Reid, citizens of the United States;
-
- And her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain:
-
- Don Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate; Don Buenaventura
- de Abarzuza, Senator of the Kingdom and ex-Minister of the Crown;
- Don José de Garnica, Deputy to the Cortes and Associate Justice of
- the Supreme Court; Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, Envoy
- Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Brussels, and Don
- Rafael Cerero, General of Division.
-
- Who, having assembled in Paris and having exchanged their full
- powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have, after
- discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following
- articles:
-
-
- ARTICLE I.
-
- Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.
-
- And as the island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied
- by the United States, the United States will, so long as such
- occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that
- may under international law result from the fact of its occupation
- for the protection of life and property.
-
-
- ARTICLE II.
-
- Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other
- islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the
- island of Guam, in the Mariannes or Ladrones.
-
-
- ARTICLE III.
-
- Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the
- Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the
- following lines:
-
- A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth
- parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable
- channel of Bachti, from the one hundred and eighteenth to the one
- hundred and twenty-seventh degree meridian of longitude east of
- Greenwich, thence along the one hundred and twenty-seventh degree
- meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of four
- degrees and forty-five minutes north latitude, thence along the
- parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes north latitude to
- its intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and
- nineteen degrees and thirty-five minutes east of Greenwich, thence
- along the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees
- and thirty-five minutes east of Greenwich to the parallel of
- latitude seven degrees and forty minutes north, thence along the
- parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes north to its
- intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth degree meridian of
- longitude east of Greenwich, thence by a direct line to the
- intersection of the tenth degree parallel of north latitude with
- the one hundred and eighteenth degree meridian of longitude east of
- Greenwich, and thence along the one hundred and eighteenth degree
- meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.
-
- The United States will pay to Spain the sum of $20,000,000 within
- three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present
- treaty.
-
-
- ARTICLE IV.
-
- The United States will, for ten years from the date of exchange of
- ratifications of the present treaty, admit Spanish ships and
- merchandise to the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same
- terms as ships and merchandise of the United States.
-
-
- ARTICLE V.
-
- The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty,
- send back to Spain, at its own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as
- prisoners of war on the capture of Manila by the American forces.
- The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them.
-
- Spain will, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the present
- treaty, proceed to evacuate the Philippines, as well as the island
- of Guam, on terms similar to those agreed upon by the Commissioners
- appointed to arrange for the evacuation of Porto Rico and other
- islands in the West Indies under the protocol of August 12, 1898,
- which is to continue in force till its provisions are completely
- executed.
-
- The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands and
- Guam shall be completed shall be fixed by the two Governments.
- Stands of colors, uncaptured war vessels, small arms, guns of all
- calibers, with their carriages and accessories, powder, ammunition,
- live stock, and materials and supplies of all kinds belonging to
- the land and naval forces of Spain in the Philippines and Guam
- remain the property of Spain. Pieces of heavy ordnance, exclusive
- of field artillery, in the fortifications and coast defenses shall
- remain in their emplacements for the term of six months, to be
- reckoned from the exchange of ratifications of the treaty; and the
- United States may in the meantime purchase such material from Spain
- if a satisfactory agreement between the two Governments on the
- subject shall be reached.
-
-
- ARTICLE VI.
-
- Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all
- prisoners of war and all persons detained or imprisoned for
- political offenses in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and
- the Philippines and the war with the United States.
-
- Reciprocally the United States will release all persons made
- prisoners of war by the American forces, and will undertake to
- obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the
- insurgents in Cuba and the Philippines.
-
- The Government of the United States will at its own cost return to
- Spain, and the Government of Spain will at its own cost return to
- the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, according
- to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or
- caused to be released by them, respectively, under this article.
-
-
- ARTICLE VII.
-
- The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for
- indemnity, national and individual, of every kind, of either
- Government, or of its citizens or subjects, against the other
- Government, which may have arisen since the beginning of the late
- insurrection in Cuba and prior to the exchange of ratifications of
- the present treaty, including all claims for indemnity for the cost
- of the war. The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims
- of its citizens against Spain relinquished in this article.
-
-
- ARTICLE VIII.
-
- In conformity with the provisions of Articles I., II. and III. of
- this treaty, Spain relinquishes in Cuba and cedes in Porto Rico and
- other islands in the West Indies, in the island of Guam, and in the
- Philippine Archipelago all the buildings, wharves, barracks, forts,
- structures, public highways, and other immovable property which in
- conformity with law belong to the public domain and as such belong
- to the Crown of Spain.
-
- And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as
- the case may be, to which the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in
- any respect impair the property or rights which by law belong to
- the peaceful possession of property of all kinds of provinces,
- municipalities, public or private establishments, ecclesiastical or
- civic bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to
- acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories,
- renounced or ceded, or of private individuals, of whatsoever
- nationality such individuals may be.
-
- The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be,
- includes all documents exclusively referring to the sovereignty
- relinquished or ceded that may exist in the archives of the
- Peninsula. Where any document in such archives only in part relates
- to said sovereignty a copy of such part will be furnished whenever
- it shall be requested. Like rules shall be reciprocally observed in
- favor of Spain in respect of documents in the archives of the
- islands above referred to.
-
- In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, are
- also included such rights as the Crown of Spain and its authorities
- possess in respect of the official archives and records, executive
- as well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate
- to said islands or the rights and property of their inhabitants.
- Such archives and records shall be carefully preserved, and private
- persons shall, without distinction, have the right to require, in
- accordance with the law, authenticated copies of the contracts,
- wills, and other instruments forming part of notarial protocols or
- files, or which may be contained in the executive or judicial
- archives, be the latter in Spain or in the islands aforesaid.
-
-
- ARTICLE IX.
-
- Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the
- territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or
- cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such territory or may remove
- therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property,
- including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its
- proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their
- industry, commerce, and professions, being subject in respect
- thereof to such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. In case
- they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to
- the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of record, within a
- year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty,
- a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in
- default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced
- it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which
- they may reside.
-
- The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of
- the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be
- determined by the Congress.
-
-
- ARTICLE X.
-
- The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or
- cedes her sovereignty shall be secured in the free exercise of
- their religion.
-
-
- ARTICLE XI.
-
- The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this
- treaty cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in
- matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts
- of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws
- governing the same; and they shall have the right to appear before
- such courts and to pursue the same course as citizens of the
- country to which the courts belong.
-
-
- ARTICLE XII.
-
- Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of
- ratifications of this treaty in the territories over which Spain
- relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined according
- to the following rules:
-
- First--Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private
- individuals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and
- with respect to which there is no recourse or right of review under
- the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed
- in due form by competent authority in the territory within which
- such judgments should be carried out.
-
- Second--Civil suits between private individuals which may on the
- date mentioned be undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgment
- before the court in which they may then be pending, or in the court
- that may be substituted therefor.
-
- Third--Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the
- Supreme Court of Spain against citizens of the territory which by
- this treaty ceases to be Spanish shall continue under its
- jurisdiction until final judgment; but, such judgment having been
- rendered, the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent
- authority of the place in which the case arose.
-
-
- ARTICLE XIII.
-
- The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired
- by Spaniards in the island of Cuba, and in Porto Rico, the
- Philippines, and other ceded territories, at the time of the
- exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be
- respected. Spanish scientific, literary and artistic works not
- subversive of public order in the territories in question shall
- continue to be admitted free of duty into such territories for the
- period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date of the exchange
- of the ratifications of this treaty.
-
-
- ARTICLE XIV.
-
- Spain shall have the power to establish consular officers in the
- ports and places of the territories the sovereignty over which has
- either been relinquished or ceded by the present treaty.
-
-
- ARTICLE XV.
-
- The Government of each country will, for the term of ten years,
- accord to the merchant vessels of the other country the same
- treatment in respect to all port charges, including entrance and
- clearance dues, light dues and tonnage duties, as it accords to its
- own merchant vessels not engaged in the coastwise trade.
-
- This article may at any time be terminated on six months’ notice
- given by either Government to the other.
-
-
- ARTICLE XVI.
-
- It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the
- United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its
- occupancy thereof; but it will upon the termination of such
- occupancy advise any Government established in the island to assume
- the same obligations.
-
-
- ARTICLE XVII.
-
- The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United
- States, by and with the consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her
- Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain; and the ratifications shall be
- exchanged at Washington within six months from the date hereof, or
- earlier if possible.
-
- In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed
- this treaty, and have hereunto affixed our seals.
-
- Done in duplicate at Paris the tenth day of December, in the year
- of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.
-
-In pursuance of these terms the evacuation of Porto Rico, Cuba and of
-the Philippine Islands was carried to a successful end, under the
-supervision of the Evacuation Commissioners appointed by Spain.
-
-After the peace treaty had been ratified by the American Senate and
-signed by President McKinley, on February 10, it received the signature
-of the Queen Regent on March 17, the Cortes having been prorogued.
-
-In a Red Book on the peace treaty issued by the Government later in the
-year, Senor Rios thus explained Spain’s predicaments:
-
-“The prostration and bloodless indifference of the public mind
-constantly alluded to in the press, the want of well meditated
-exposition of a high plane in the discussion and defense of Spain,
-especially those which related to the colonial debts, perhaps the most
-important which she had to assert in the conference; the multiplicity of
-opinions constantly manifested during these negotiations on the other
-points to be determined in the treaty; the eagerness apparent from the
-first day on the part of this press that the Philippine Archipelago
-should be abandoned, its preservation being considered incompatible with
-the national interests; the incessant excitation of another part of the
-press for this Commission to promptly terminate in any way whatever its
-labors, giving way at once to the exigencies of the Federal Government,
-and many other things which converted the Spanish press into a subject
-for the preferred attention of the American Commissioners, weakened the
-moral influence of this Commission and the force of its demands and of
-the reasons on which it founded them. Would to God that they may not
-also have strengthened the spirit of the American Commission to uphold
-and amplify its exactions!
-
-“The Spanish Commission, considering the narrow limits in which it could
-move and which had been irrevocably fixed for Spain in the preliminaries
-of peace signed at Washington on August 12 last, during these
-negotiations constantly drew inspiration for its acts in the purpose to
-save from the ruin of the colonial empire of Spain such remnants as were
-possible, however lacking in importance these remnants might be, and,
-above all, in its unconquerable resolve to never consent that the honor
-and the dignity of the fatherland should become stained.
-
-“As regards the question of the ‘Maine,’ the truth is that above all
-precedents there weighed upon the American Commission the inability of
-giving any satisfactory reply to the Spanish protest, because of the
-action of the President of the Union--violative of the most elementary
-dictates of generosity and prudence--on recalling, with language
-offensive to Spain, the ‘Maine’ incident on the most solemn occasion in
-the public life of the United States, and when the negotiations for the
-re-establishment of peace were on the point of terminating.
-
-“The Commission believes, then, that it has done its duty. It
-understands the treaty concluded is the least prejudicial for Spain that
-it was possible to obtain in view of the foreign circumstances, which
-could not but inevitably bear down their heavy weight upon her. It
-trusts that the coming time will demonstrate this, and it entertains the
-hope that, despite the solution imposed on the terrible crisis through
-which the nation has just passed, it may soon recover its strength and
-grandeur, and it believes, finally, that the honor and the dignity of
-the fatherland have been saved in these painful negotiations as the most
-precious remnants of the wreck of the old Spanish colonial empire.”
-
-The subsequent Bale of the Caroline and Ladrone Islands to Germany, for
-the sum of 5,000,000 pesos, disposed of the last remnants of the Spanish
-colonial empire. The Ministry of Colonies was abolished. Then followed a
-series of military and naval courts-martial of the various commanding
-officers implicated in the capitulations of Manila and Santiago de Cuba,
-notably Admirals Montojo, Cervera and Generals Augustin, Jaudenes,
-Linares and Toral. The officers laid the responsibility for their
-actions at the door of the Ministry of Marine. Minister d’Aunon had to
-resign.
-
-Another Cabinet crisis resulted in a new Ministry composed of the
-following members--President of Council and Minister Foreign Affairs,
-Senor Silvela; War, General Azcarraga; Marine, Admiral Gomez Imaz;
-Interior, Senor Dato; Finance, Senor Villaverde; Public Works, Marquis
-Pidel; Justice, Senor Bas.
-
-Later Count Torreanaz succeeded Senor Bas in the Ministry of Justice,
-and General Weyler became Minister of War.
-
-Weyler’s most formidable rival, Marshal Arsenio Martinez de Campos,
-former Captain-General of Spain and Cuba, died in 1900 at Zarauz. With
-Jovellar, he issued the pronunciamiento of Sagoote, through which
-Alfonso reached the throne. Placed in full command of the Spanish forces
-by young Alfonso, he ended the civil war by defeating Don Carlos at Pena
-de la Plata in 1876. Despatched to Cuba, he succeeded in putting a stop
-to the ten years’ war there by his liberal concessions to the
-insurgents. Later he was once more sent to Cuba to cope with the final
-insurrection in that island. But his measures were held to be too
-conciliatory, and he was recalled in 1895, without having accomplished
-his task. Campos never recovered from this disgrace.
-
-The accession of King Alfonso XIII. to the throne, as actual ruler, was
-set for his sixteenth birthday, May 17, 1902. Accordingly his mother
-delivered her last speech from the throne as Queen-Regent in June of the
-preceding year.
-
-The complete list of titles falling to the little king upon his
-accession are in themselves an epitome of Spain’s former historic
-grandeur. King Alfonso’s full royal titles are: “His Most Catholic
-Majesty, Alfonso, King of Spain, Castile and Léon, Aragon, the Two
-Sicilies, Jerusalem, the Canary Islands, the East and West Indies,
-India, the Oceanic Continent, and King of Gibraltar.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-SPANISH ART, LITERATURE, AND SPORT
-
-
-I
-
-_PAINTING AND ARCHITECTURE_
-
-Early Spanish paintings are feeble imitations of Italian and Flemish
-art. They lack the simplicity of the one and the realism of the other.
-In color they are somber and monotonous--two qualities which
-characterize the whole Spanish school. The value of this school has been
-curiously overrated. Comparatively speaking of brief existence, it has
-produced but two great painters--Velasquez and Murillo. Their
-contemporaries, Zurbaran, Del Mazo, Ribera, Alonso Cano, Herrera and
-Roelas, were men of ability, no doubt, but they were not masters.
-
-Excellent examples of Velasquez and of Murillo are to be found to-day in
-the Museum of the Prado at Madrid, and in the Art Gallery of Seville.
-The cathedrals and churches generally contain works of the principal
-painters, both of the early and later times; but placed, as a rule, in
-“Retablos” or altar-pieces, they are poorly exposed and difficult to
-view.
-
- * * * * *
-
-DON DIEGO VELASQUEZ DE SILVA, or simply VELASQUEZ, the greatest painter
-that Spain has produced, was born at Seville, in 1599, of parents of
-Portuguese origin, and died at Madrid in 1660. He married in his youth
-the daughter of FRANCISCO PACHECO, a painter of inferior merit, but a
-learned writer on art, from whose advice and instruction he derived much
-advantage. Velasquez showed from his childhood a genius for painting. He
-began by copying carefully from nature, still life, and living models,
-forming himself upon the study of pictures by Ribera and by Italian
-masters of the Naturalistic school, which had been brought from Italy to
-Spain. The best examples of his first manner are “The Adoration of the
-Kings” and his famous “Borrachos,” or drunkards, in the Madrid Gallery.
-In them the influence of Caravaggio and Ribera is very evident. In the
-twenty-third year of his age he went to Madrid, and, attracting the
-notice of influential persons, was soon taken into the service of Philip
-IV.--an enthusiastic lover of art, and himself a painter. He remained
-there for the rest of his life, and his pictures were almost exclusively
-painted for his royal patron and for the grandees of the Spanish court.
-A friendship with Rubens, who was in Madrid as embassador from the King
-of England, in 1628, and two visits to Italy, in 1629 and 1648, led him
-to modify his early manner. From the study at Venice of the masterpieces
-of Titian and Tintoret, he acquired a greater harmony and transparency
-of color, and a freer and firmer touch, without departing from that
-truthful representation of nature which he always sought to attain. On
-his second visit to Italy he chiefly studied in Rome. He again changed
-his style: his coloring became more what the Italians term “sfumato,” or
-hazy; and he returned, to some extent, to his early general soberness of
-tone, rarely introducing bright colors into his last pictures.
-Velasquez’s second and third manners, as well as his first, are fully
-represented in the Madrid Gallery, which contains no less than sixty of
-his pictures, or almost the whole of his genuine works. The “Borrachos”
-have already been mentioned as an example of his first manner. The fine
-portrait of the Infante Don Carlos, second son of Philip III., is
-another. In his second manner are the “Surrender of Breda,” perhaps the
-finest representation and treatment of a contemporary historical event
-in the world; the magnificent portrait of the Count of Benavente, and
-the four Dwarfs. In his third, the “Meninas,” and the “Hilanderas.” By
-studying these pictures the student will soon be able to distinguish
-between the three manners of the painter, and to decide for himself as
-to the genuineness of the many pictures which pass for Velasquez’s in
-the public and private galleries of Europe.
-
-It was principally as a portrait-painter that Velasquez excelled.
-Although he wanted the imagination of Titian, and gave less dignity and
-refinement than that great master to his portraits, yet in a marvelous
-power of rendering nature, and in truthfulness of expression, he was not
-his inferior. In the imaginative faculties he was singularly deficient,
-as his “Forge of Vulcan,” the “Coronation of the Virgin,” and other
-works of that class in the Madrid Gallery, are sufficient to prove.
-However, the “Crucifixion,” in the same collection, is a grand and
-solemn conception, which has excited the enthusiastic admiration of some
-critics. Velasquez was essentially a “naturalistic” painter. In the
-representation of animals, especially dogs, and of details such as
-armor, drapery, and objects of still life, he is almost without a rival.
-His freedom of touch and power of producing truthful effects by the
-simplest means are truly wonderful. His aerial perspective his light and
-shade, his gradations of tone and color, are all equally excellent, and
-have excited the admiration of Wilkie, and of the best judges of art.
-
-The high offices which Velasquez held at court gave him but little time
-to paint. The number of his pictures is, therefore, comparatively small.
-They were principally executed for the royal palaces; those which have
-escaped the fires that destroyed so many great works have been removed
-to the Madrid Museum. The portraits which are attributed to him in many
-public and private collections out of Spain are, for the most part, by
-his pupils, or imitators and copyists. One of the most skillful of the
-latter was a certain Lucas, who, not many years ago, succeeded in
-deceiving many collectors.
-
-Among his best scholars were: JUAN BAUTISTA DEL MAZO (d. 1667), his
-son-in-law. How nearly he approached his master may be seen by his
-admirable portrait of D. Tiburcio de Redin, and the view of Saragossa,
-in which the figures have even been attributed to Velasquez, in the
-Madrid Gallery. PAREJA, his half-caste slave, and afterward freedman (d.
-1670), who imitated his master in his portraits, but not in his
-religious and other subjects, in which he followed the Dutch and Italian
-painters of the time; as in his “Calling of St. Mark,” in the same
-gallery. CARRENO, a member of a noble family (b. 1614; d. 1685), who
-succeeded Velasquez as court painter, and who is chiefly known by his
-portraits of the idiot king (Charles II.), his mother, Mariana of
-Austria, Don John of Austria (not the hero of Lepanto), and other royal
-and courtly persons of the period. Spanish writers on art rank him with
-Vandyke, to whom, however, he was greatly inferior. His coloring is
-generally insipid, and wanting in vigor.
-
-BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO was born at Seville in 1616. He studied under
-Juan del Castillo, a very indifferent painter, but formed his style,
-like Velasquez, on the works of Ribera and the Italian naturalistic
-painters. Like that great master, too, he modified his “manner” three
-times, as he gained in experience and knowledge. From his boyhood he
-painted pictures which were sold in the market-place of his native city,
-and bought by dealers; chiefly, it is said, for exportation to the
-Spanish colonies in America. After obtaining a considerable reputation
-at Seville, he went to Madrid to improve himself by the study of the
-works of the great Italian masters in the royal collection. Their
-influence led him to modify his first style, called by the Spaniards
-_frio_ (cold), in which he had imitated the brown tints, dark shadows,
-and conventional treatment of drapery of Ribera; but he did not abandon
-it altogether. It may still be traced in his second, or _calido_ (warm)
-manner, as in the celebrated “Holy Family,” called “Del Pajarito,” in
-the Madrid Gallery. The advice of Velasquez, who treated him with great
-kindness, and the works of Titian and Rubens, led him to adopt a warm,
-harmonious and transparent coloring, and a more truthful rendering of
-nature; at the same time his drawing became more free, if not more
-correct. His third manner is termed by the Spaniards _vaporoso_ (misty),
-from a gradual and almost imperceptible fusion of tints, producing a
-kind of hazy effect. In it are painted, for the most part, his
-well-known “Miraculous Conceptions,” the Virgin standing on the crescent
-moon attended by angels. The three manners of Murillo are neither so
-well defined nor so easily recognized as those of Velasquez. He never
-completely abandoned one of them for the other, and in his last pictures
-he frequently returned to the calido style. As a painter of portraits
-and landscapes, he was inferior to Velasquez. It was only in religious
-subjects, and especially in his Holy Families, that he surpassed him.
-His Virgins are taken from the common type of Andalusian beauty,
-slightly idealized; but he gives to them an expression of youthful
-innocence and religious sentiment which makes him the most popular of
-Spanish painters. The Spaniards are naturally proud of him. They believe
-that he unites the best qualities of the greatest masters, and surpasses
-them all. All other critics place him second to Velasquez, who
-unquestionably possessed a more original genius. Comparisons between
-these two great painters are, however, more than usually pointless and
-misleading, the two men being essentially different in feeling, taste,
-and manner.
-
-Returning to Seville, after his first and only visit to Madrid, Murillo
-established himself there for the rest of his life, painting, with the
-help of scholars, many pictures for churches and convents in Spain and
-her colonies. In the Peninsula, his best works are now only found at
-Madrid and in his native city. The French invaders and the
-picture-dealers carried the greater number away. Among those most worthy
-of note at Madrid are the “St. Elizabeth of Hungary tending the Sick,”
-and the “Patrician’s Dream,” now in the Academy of San Fernando, and the
-two “Immaculate Conceptions” in the Gallery: at Seville, “St. Thomas of
-Villanueva distributing Alms to the Poor,” in the public Museum; the
-“St. Anthony of Padua” in the Cathedral; and the pictures in the
-Caridad. Of his well-known sunburned beggar-boys and girls there are
-none, that we know of, in Spain; many of those in European collections
-are probably by his favorite pupil, VILLAVICENCIO, in whose arms he died
-at Seville in 1682. There is a picture by this painter, who was of a
-noble family, and rather an amateur than an artist, in the Madrid
-Gallery, representing a group of boys at play. It has no great merit,
-but shows how he attempted to imitate his master in this class of
-subject. He was born in 1635, and died in 1700. The imitations and
-copies of Murillo by TOBAR (d. 1758) are so successful that they
-frequently pass for originals. The same may be said of some by MENESES,
-who died early in the 18th century.
-
-Among the contemporaries of Murillo was IRIARTE (b. 1620; d. 1685), one
-of the few landscape-painters that Spain has produced. His landscapes
-were much esteemed by Murillo, but they are not entitled to rank with
-the works of any of the great masters in this branch of the art. The
-Madrid Gallery contains five examples of them.
-
-The following painters may be mentioned among the best and most
-characteristic of the second class in the Spanish school: FRANCISCO DE
-ZURBARAN, born in Estremadura in 1598, died at Madrid 1662, was
-essentially a religious painter, and his somber coloring and the
-subjects of his pictures are characteristic of Spanish bigotry and of
-the Inquisition. In Spain he is chiefly known by his altar-pieces for
-churches and convents; out of Spain by his monks and friars. A few
-figures of female saints prove that he was not insensible to grace of
-form and beauty of color. But he is usually mannered, and without
-dignity. A disagreeable reddish hue pervades his larger pictures. He
-formed himself, like his contemporaries, on the study of the Italian
-painters of the Naturalistic school. Philip IV. is said to have named
-him “Painter of the King, and King of Painters.” He enjoyed the first
-title, but did not merit the second. His best work in Spain is, perhaps,
-the “Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas,” in the Seville Museum. It is a
-grand, but somewhat stiff and unpleasing composition. Zurbaran is badly
-represented in the Madrid Gallery. The “Christ Sleeping on the Cross” is
-the most popular in it. One or two of his works are to be found in the
-Academy of San Fernando.
-
-ALONSO CANO (born at Granada, 1601; died there, 1667) enjoys the highest
-reputation in Spain after Zurbaran. He was painter, sculptor, and
-architect, and, moreover, carved and painted wooden figures of the
-Virgin and Saints, an art in which he attained great success and renown.
-Many examples of his skill may be seen at Granada. One of the most
-celebrated is the statuette of St. Francis in the sacristy of the
-Cathedral of Toledo. Cano was a violent, but not unkindly man,
-constantly engaged in quarrels and lawsuits. He ended by becoming a
-canon of the Cathedral of Granada, after narrowly escaping from the
-clutches of the Inquisition. His drawing is carefully studied, but is
-frequently exaggerated, and wants ease and flow; his coloring
-conventional and somewhat weak; but there is a delicacy of expression
-and refinement in his works which have earned him the praise of some
-critics. The Madrid Gallery contains a few of his pictures: among them a
-“Dead Christ”; but he is best seen at Granada.
-
-FRANCISCO HERRERA EL VIEJO, or the elder (b. 1576; d. 1656). His
-principal works are at Seville and out of Spain. The Madrid Gallery
-contains nothing by him. Spanish writers on art attribute to him the
-introduction into Spain of a new style of painting, characteristic of
-the national genius. It was vigorous, but coarse, and has little to
-recommend it even to those who admire the Italian eclectic school. Like
-Cano, he was a man of hot temper, quarreled with his pupils, among whom
-was Velasquez, and was thrown into prison on a charge of coining false
-money. He was released by Philip IV. on account of his merits as a
-painter. His best work in Spain is the “Last Judgment,” in the church of
-St. Bernardo at Seville, which is praised for its composition and the
-correct anatomy of the human form. Herrera painted in fresco, for which
-he was well fitted from his bold and rapid execution; but his works in
-that material have mostly perished.
-
-FRANCISCO HERRERA EL MOZO, or the younger (b. 1622; d. 1685), son of the
-former, studied at Rome, where he was chiefly known for his pictures of
-dead animals and still life. The Italians nicknamed him “Lo Spagnuolo
-dei pesci,” from his clever representations of fish. He was a painter of
-small merit; weak and affected in his drawing, color, and composition.
-The Madrid Gallery contains but one of his pictures--the “Triumph of St.
-Hermenegildo.” Like his father, he painted frescoes, some of which are
-still preserved in the churches of Madrid. He was also an architect, and
-made the plans for the “Virgen del Pilar” at Saragossa.
-
-JUAN DE LAS ROELAS, commonly known in Spain as “El Clerigo Roelas,” was
-born at Seville about 1558, and died in 1625. He studied at Venice;
-hence the richness and brilliancy of color in his best works, as in the
-fine picture of the “Martyrdom of St. Andrew,” in the Museum of Seville.
-In the churches of that city are some altar-pieces by him worthy of
-notice. He is scarcely known out of Spain, or, indeed, out of Seville,
-although he may be ranked among the best of the Spanish painters of the
-second rank. The picture in the Madrid Gallery attributed to him, if
-genuine, is a very inferior work.
-
-JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL--born at Cordova in 1630, died at Seville 1691--was
-a painter of considerable ability, but of a hasty and jealous temper,
-which he especially displayed toward Murillo, the superiority of whose
-work he would not acknowledge. His pictures are rare, and are best seen
-at Seville. The Caridad in that city contains two, representing the
-“Triumph of Death,” which are powerful, but coarse. He was also an
-engraver of skill.
-
-FRANCISCO RIZZI, the son of a Bolognese painter who had settled in
-Spain, was born at Madrid in 1608, and died there in 1685. He was a
-rapid and not unskillful painter, and was employed to decorate in
-fresco, in the Italian fashion, the churches and royal palaces of the
-capital. His well-known picture in the Madrid Gallery representing the
-“Auto da Fé” held in the Plaza Mayor before Charles II. and his queen,
-Marie Luisa of Orleans, in 1680, although awkward and formal in
-composition, is cleverly painted.
-
-CLAUDIO COELLO, died 1693, was chiefly employed by the Spanish court in
-portrait-painting and in decorating the royal palaces for triumphs and
-festivities. His best known and most important picture, in the sacristy
-of the Escorial, is the “Santa Forma,” or “Removal of the Miraculous
-Wafer of Gorcum,” in which he has introduced portraits of Charles II.
-and of the officers of his court. It is crowded and unskillful in
-composition, but has merits which show that he had preserved the best
-traditions of the Spanish school of painters, of whom he was almost the
-last.
-
-The history of Spanish painting closes with the seventeenth century.
-During the eighteenth there appeared a few feeble painters who imitated,
-but were even immeasurably behind the Luca Giordanos, Tiepolos, and
-other Italians whom the Bourbon kings invited to Madrid to decorate the
-new royal palace, and to make designs for the royal manufactory of
-tapestries. The first who attempted to revive Spanish art was FRANCISCO
-GOYA (born in 1746), a vigorous but eccentric painter and etcher in aqua
-fortis, not wanting in genius. He studied at Rome, and returning to
-Spain executed frescoes, with little success, in churches at Madrid and
-elsewhere. He became “pintor de camara,” or court painter, to the weak
-Charles IV. and vicious Ferdinand VII. In numerous portraits of these
-kings and of members of the Spanish Bourbon family he made them, perhaps
-with deliberate malice--for in politics he was an ardent liberal--even
-more hideous than they were. His large picture of Charles IV. and his
-family in the Madrid Gallery is the best, but by no means an attractive
-example of his skill, and is in parts, especially in the details of
-costume, not altogether unworthy of Velasquez, whom he sought to
-imitate. But his genius was chiefly shown in his etchings, in which, in
-a grotesque, and not always decent way, he lashed the vices and
-corruption of his country, and vented his hatred against its French
-invaders. The Spaniards are very proud of Goya. The author of the “Guide
-to the Madrid Gallery” discovers in his works a union of the best
-qualities of Rembrandt, Titian, Paul Veronese, Watteau, and Lancret! He
-was, no doubt, a powerful and original painter, and his touch is often
-masterly; but he was incorrect in his drawing, and his color is
-frequently exaggerated and unnatural. His designs for the tapestries in
-the royal palaces are generally weak and ill-drawn; but they are
-interesting as representations of national manners and costume. Goya
-died in voluntary exile at Bordeaux in 1828, having left Spain disgusted
-with the political reaction which set in on the restoration of the
-Bourbons, and with the persecution of the best and most enlightened of
-his countrymen. His works have of late years been much sought after,
-especially in France. His etchings, consisting chiefly of political
-caricatures (caprichos), scenes in the bull-ring, the horrors of war,
-etc., are rare. A new edition has recently been published of the
-“Caprichos” from the worn-out plates.
-
-Goya may be considered the founder of the modern Spanish school of
-painting, which has produced Fortuny, Madrazo, Plamaroli, and a number
-of other clever painters who have achieved a European reputation. It is
-not, however, in Spain, but in the private collections of London, Paris,
-and New York, that their principal works are to be found. Spaniards have
-little love or knowledge of art, and the high prices it is now the
-fashion to pay for Spanish pictures are beyond their means.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The history of architecture in Spain is similar to that of France and
-other countries of northern Europe, with, however, the essential
-difference that Moorish art in the Middle Ages attained in Spain as
-great an importance as in the East, and when combined with Christian
-art, a new style was formed, known by the name of Morisco or Mudejar,
-which is not met with out of the Spanish Peninsula, and is of great
-interest.
-
-Spanish architecture may be divided, after the prehistoric period, and
-invasions of the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, in the following manner:
-
-1. Roman period, until the invasions of the Goths.
-
-2. Latin Byzantine style, fifth to end of tenth century.
-
-3. Moorish architecture, eighth to fifteenth century.
-
-4. Romanesque style, eleventh, twelfth, and part of thirteenth century.
-
-5. Pointed architecture, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and part of
-sixteenth century.
-
-6. Mudejar style, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and part of
-sixteenth century.
-
-7. Renaissance or Plateresque style, Græco-Roman, and Churrigueresque.
-
-Several of the inscriptions which have come down to us of the Roman
-period (see “Corpus Inscrip.,” Vol. II., Emil Hübner) mention different
-buildings of public utility and adornment which were in course of
-construction in Spain. The number which still remains is very great, and
-may be found in almost every province; many have, however, been sadly
-mutilated. The finest are undoubtedly the aqueduct at Segovia
-(constructed of huge stones, and still used for carrying water to the
-town), the Bridge of Alcantara (Estremadura), with its triumphal arch in
-the center and temple at one end, and the walls of Lugo and Astorga. The
-general structure of these monuments and their ornamentation are the
-same as those of ancient Rome: it is well known that the Romans imposed
-their art on the countries which came under their dominion.
-
-Two remarkable specimens exist of the Visigothic period: the church of
-San Roman de Hornija (near Toro), 646, and San Juan de Banos (near Venta
-de Banos), 661. Although these churches have suffered much from later
-additions, they still retain a great part of their construction and part
-of the primitive building. A great number of fragments remain in Spain
-of this period. They must be examined in order to judge this
-architecture. Some are capitals of columns in the Cathedral of Cordova
-and some churches at Toledo, and different friezes and fragments which
-have been applied to different uses at Toledo and Merida. The votive
-crowns found at Guarrazar, now at Cluny (Paris) and armory of Madrid,
-give an excellent idea of the ornamentation of the Visigoths. Several
-examples of architecture remain posterior to the Visigoths, and anterior
-to the Romanesque style of the eleventh century. The most important are
-the churches of Sta. Maria Naranco and St. Miguel de Lino, near Oviedo,
-Sta. Christina de Lena (Asturias), a very remarkable specimen of
-Byzantine construction, and the churches of San Pedro and San Pablo,
-Barcelona.
-
-The invasion of the Arabs in 711 caused their architecture to extend
-itself in the Peninsula. Its adaptation to churches and other buildings
-of the Christians created a new style, known as Mudejar. The finest
-specimen of Oriental architecture in Spain is the mosque at Cordova
-(ninth century). Byzantine models were copied there in the same manner
-as at Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo. The small mosque at Toledo (Cristo
-de la Luz) is of the same period, and part of the church of Santiago de
-Peñalva (Vierzo), the only example which is known of a Christian church
-built in the Moorish style.
-
-During the eleventh and twelfth centuries this architecture underwent
-radical modifications in Spain, in the same manner as in the East, and
-a new style arose which is very different to the earlier one. No writers
-on this subject have explained this transformation in the East in a
-satisfactory manner: it is not easy to study this transition in Spain,
-for it coincides with the time in which the Spanish Moors were not rich
-or powerful enough to build large constructions, as they did in the
-thirteenth century, after the kings of Granada had settled there. At
-this period of their art the forms of capitals, which partook of a
-Byzantine and classical form, changed. Tiles are used to decorate the
-walls, which are covered with an ornamentation in relief in stucco, in
-which are introduced inscriptions in Cufic and African characters; the
-ceilings are decorated with inlaid woodwork and stalactical pendentives
-in stucco. This style ends with the conquest of Granada, 1492. The
-Alhambra is the most important example of this architecture, and
-following it the Alcazar of Seville.
-
-Owing to the gradual conquests by the Christians of towns belonging to
-the Muhammadans, several of them continued to be inhabited by Moors, who
-kept their customs and religion. They were called Moriscos or Mudejares.
-The chief industries of the country were in their hands, and several
-churches and other buildings of importance were built by them. They
-accommodated their architecture to European or Christian necessities,
-and created a new style (Mudejar), a mixture of Christian and Moorish
-art, which is only to be found in the Spanish Peninsula. The finest
-specimens are of the fourteenth century. The religious constructions of
-this period are remarkable for their brickwork in towers and apses, and
-fine wooden ceilings, artesonados. Examples exist at Toledo, Seville,
-and Granada. The interesting synagogues built by Moriscos are at Toledo
-and Segovia. As specimens of civil architecture, the finest are Casa de
-Pilatos (Seville), Palace of Mendoza (Guadalajara), Archbishop’s Palace
-(Alcalá), Casa de Mesa (Toledo). This style continued in vogue during
-the greater part of the sixteenth century, although late Gothic was
-everywhere predominant. A most striking example in which the three
-styles--Moorish, Flamboyant, and Renaissance--are combined, is to be
-found in a chapel of the cathedral of Sigüenza.
-
-The Romanesque style of architecture was imported in the eleventh and
-twelfth centuries from France, even more directly than in other
-countries, owing to the immense influence exercised by a large number of
-prelates and priests, who came from Cluny and Cister, and the French
-princes and families who settled in Spain. The general features of this
-architecture are similar to those of France: the differences exist
-chiefly in the general plan of the churches rather than in their
-construction and ornamentation. The choirs in Spanish cathedrals are
-placed in the central nave, a traditional remembrance of the early
-basilica. In some localities, Segovia, Avila, and Valladolid, some of
-these churches have external cloisters, an Oriental or Italian
-modification, which never occurs in France or the north of Europe.
-Romanesque examples are very numerous in Spain. Some, such as the
-doorway of the Cathedral of Santiago (Galicia), and the Old Cathedral
-(Salamanca), are not surpassed by any similar buildings in Europe.
-Specimens are only found in the northern provinces, as the south was not
-conquered from the Moors until the thirteenth century. Interesting
-examples exist in Asturias, Galicia, Castile, Aragon, and Cataluña. The
-cloisters of Gerona and Tarragona are unrivaled. Of the many striking
-examples of Transition from Romanesque to Early Pointed, the finest are
-the old cathedral of Lerida, the cathedrals of Tarragona and Santiago,
-and the collegiate church of Tudela.
-
-The specimens of Pointed style in Spain present no other variety than
-the choirs in the centers of the cathedrals. Although this style was
-imported from France early in the thirteenth century, in the same manner
-as in Germany, Romanesque churches continued to be built, and Pointed
-architecture was only finally adopted at the end of the century. The
-finest cathedrals in Spain of this architecture are those of Toledo,
-Leon, and Burgos. A great number of civil and religious buildings of
-this style are to be met with in Spain, in which the art-student will
-find constant elements of study: it underwent the same modifications in
-Spain as in other countries, until it reached, in the fifteenth century,
-its latest period, the Flamboyant style. This style lasts longer in
-Spain than in other countries, and acquires great importance. The
-cathedrals of Salamanca (la nueva) and Segovia, both built in late
-Gothic, were begun in the sixteenth century, when in other parts of
-Europe and even in Spain itself Italian Renaissance models were largely
-imported. Spanish cathedrals are undoubtedly, with the exception of
-Italy, the most interesting in Europe; for although they cannot compete
-in architectural details with those of France, they are vastly superior
-in regard to the objects they contain of ecclesiastical furniture of
-every kind--iron railings, carved stalls, monstrances, church-plate,
-vestments, pictures, and sepulchers. Toledo and Seville cathedrals are
-museums in their way.
-
-Italian models were copied in Spain from the end of the fifteenth
-century. The portals of Santa Cruz at Valladolid and Toledo are of this
-period. Gothic architecture continued, however, for several years to
-alternate with this style. The combination of these styles produced an
-important series of models known in Spain by the name of Plateresco.
-
-The revival of the fine arts coincided in Spain with the greatest power
-and richness of the country. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella
-united Castile, Aragon, and the kingdom of Naples. The conquest of
-Granada completed the political unity of the country: the discoveries of
-Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro brought riches from a new world, and the
-union with the House of Austria, the Flemish States, an immense power,
-which it enjoyed during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. Renaissance
-architecture is better represented in Spain than in any other country
-except Italy. In almost all towns of importance admirable examples of
-this style will be found. The finest are at Salamanca: the University,
-Santo Domingo, Casa de las Conchas, and Salinas, San Marcos (Leon), Casa
-de Ayuntamiento (Seville), Valladolid, Saragossa, Burgos, etc.
-
-The cathedral and palace of Charles V. (Granada) may be quoted as an
-example of pure Græco-Roman style. Part of the Alcazar at Toledo belongs
-to this same period. The tendency to copy classical models increased
-daily. The Monastery of the Escorial may be considered the most
-important specimen of this school. In the seventeenth century the
-Borromenisco style was imported from Italy. The Pantheon at the Escorial
-is a good example. This architectural decay increased in Spain with
-great rapidity, and in no country did it reach to such an extravagant
-point. It lasted during the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth
-centuries. In Spain this style is called Churrigueresque, after the
-architect Churriguera. Examples will be found everywhere. The
-Transparente (Cathedral of Toledo), retablos of San Esteban (Salamanca),
-Cartuja (Granada), and façade of Hospicio (Madrid), may be considered
-the most remarkable.
-
-The creation of the Academy of San Fernando, the French architects who
-accompanied Philip V., and the efforts of Charles III. to favor
-classical studies, produced the same pretentious and classical reaction
-as in the rest of Europe. The Palace and Convent of Salesas (Madrid) are
-specimens of the first movement. The Museo and Observatory of Madrid
-belong to the end of the last and beginning of the present century.
-
-
-II
-
-_SPANISH LITERATURE_
-
-The history of Spanish literature commences at the end of the eleventh
-or beginning of the twelfth century, when the dialect emerged from the
-corrupted Latin, and became an independent language capable of producing
-literary works.
-
-The origin of the language may be traced to the writers of the sixth,
-seventh, to the eleventh century. They wrote in the more or less
-barbarous Latin of the period. The most important authors of this time
-were San Isidoro and his pupils, St. Eugenio, St. Ildefonso, St.
-Eulogio, Alvaro, Sansom, Pero Alonso, and Oliva. The writers of the
-Roman period, Porcio Latro, Seneca, Lucan, Martial, Pomponius Mela,
-Collumela, Silius Italicus, and Quintillian, though born in Spain, must
-be numbered among classical authors. The Spanish language is derived in
-a direct manner from the Latin, though it has been enriched by a great
-number of words belonging to the different nations which have occupied
-the whole or part of the Peninsula. Iberian, Punic, Greek, Visigothic,
-Hebrew, and Arabic words are met with in large numbers. The abundance of
-these last has induced some critics to infer that the origin of the
-language is Semitic, but its grammatical structure is undoubtedly Latin.
-The abundance of Oriental words does not influence its organization, or
-produce any further result than to add nouns to the language.
-
-Spanish literature is generally divided into three groups--twelfth
-century to end of fifteenth; sixteenth to seventeenth; eighteenth to the
-present day.
-
-It is highly probable that Spanish poetry began by commemorating the
-heroic deeds of Pelayo and other heroes who fought against the Moors;
-but we can trace nothing to that period. The earliest compositions which
-have reached us are, a “Charter of Oviedo,” 1145 (the “Charter of
-Aviles,” 1155, has been proved to be a forgery), and two poems on the
-Cid, the favorite hero of popular Spanish poetry, 1040-1099. The best of
-these poems is the one beginning: El mio Cid (vide Ticknor). Though
-incomplete, it constitutes a real epic poem, and if examined in detail
-appears to have been written at the beginning of the twelfth century.
-Three contemporary works have reached us: “La Vida de Santa Maria
-Egipciaca,” “El Libro de los tres reyes d’Orient,” and “Los tres reyes
-magos.” The first two were evidently written under a French influence;
-“Los tres reyes magos” was written for recital in a church.
-
-The same intellectual development appears in Spain in the thirteenth
-century as in Italy and France. The universities of Palencia and
-Salamanca contributed toward it. The tendency of the writers of this
-period is to imitate classic authors. A priest, Gonzalo de Berceo, is
-the first poet of any importance in the thirteenth century, 1230: he
-wrote a large number of verses on religious subjects. His poem to the
-Virgin contains some poetical passages. Two poems appeared shortly
-afterward, “El Libro de Apollonio” and “El Libro de Alexandre,” by J.
-Lorenzo Segura, adapted from the history of Alexandre Le Grand, by
-Chatillon. The poem “Fernan Gonzalez” is of the same period: it is free
-from foreign influence. Prose is improved at the beginning of the
-century by the translation from Latin of the “Fuero Juzgo,” and other
-historical and didactical works.
-
-Don Alonso el Sabio, 1221-1284, absorbs the scientific and literary life
-of Spain during his time: the most eminent of his countrymen, Spaniards,
-Jews and Moors, gathered round him. So many works have appeared under
-his name that it is incredible they should all have been written by him.
-Probably only the poems, “Las Querellas,” written in the Castilian
-dialect, are his. An extensive Universal History, the first written in
-Europe in a vernacular language; the “Leyes de Partidas,” a series of
-legal works; “El Saber de Astronomia,” a cyclopedia of this science as
-it stood at that time; the “Cantigas,” a poem containing upward of four
-hundred compositions to the Virgin, written in the Galician dialect and
-in the Provençal style, and several other works, have passed hitherto as
-proceeding from his pen.
-
-Don Sancho el Bravo, a son of Don Alonso, wrote the “Lucidario” and
-“Libro de los Castigos,” a moral treatise dedicated to his son. The
-“Libro del Tesoro” and “La Gran Conquista de Ultramar” were translated
-at his instigation from the Latin. The Infante, Don Juan Manuel, 1282, a
-nephew of Don Alonso, wrote several works on different subjects. The
-finest is the interesting collection of fables, “El Conde Lucanor.” They
-are earlier than the Decameron or Canterbury Tales.
-
-Spanish poetry revived in the fourteenth century. The archpriest of
-Hita, 1330-1343, wrote thousands of verses on different subjects. Rabbi
-Don Santob, 1850, a Spanish Jew, dedicated to his friend, King Peter
-the Cruel, his principal poetical works. The best is on the “Danza de la
-Muerte,” a favorite subject of that time. Pero Lopez de Ayala,
-1372-1407, who wrote the “Rimado de Palacio,” and Rodrigo Yanez, the
-author of the “Poema de Alonso XI.,” end the series of poets of the
-fourteenth century. Romances of chivalry became popular in Spain in the
-fifteenth century: their popularity lasted until the sixteenth, when
-Cervantes published his “Don Quixote.” “Amadis de Gaula” was the first
-work of importance of this kind; “Palmerin de Oliva,” etc., follow it.
-The Coronicas belong to this period. They are semi-historical
-narratives, in which the leading events of each reign are described.
-
-Provençal style was introduced into Spain early in the fifteenth
-century. It became very popular owing to the patronage of Don Juan II.,
-1407-1454. The most important courtiers imitated the king’s example, and
-poems have reached us by Don Alvaro de Luna, Don Alonso de Cartagena and
-others. The Marquis of Villena and Macias belong to this period. Fernan
-Perez de Guzman wrote at this time his “Livros de los claros varones de
-España,” and Juan de Mena, an excellent poet, his “Laberynto” and
-“Dialogo de los siete Pecados mortales.” The last poet of the reign of
-Don Juan II. is the Marquis of Santillana. Several wrote late in the
-century: the most excellent among them being Jorge Manrique, whose
-“Coplas” on the death of his father are admirable. Novels begin at this
-time, generally copied from Italian models. The finest is “La
-Celestina,” written in acts like a drama, one of the best works in
-Spanish literature.
-
-Romances or ballads are the most original form of Spanish poetry. They
-constitute the popular epic poem, and are the most spontaneous
-productions of the Spanish language.
-
-The revival of literature coincides in Spain with the period of its
-greatest power and prosperity. The early part of the sixteenth century
-is called “el Siglo de oro.” An Italian influence is predominant.
-Castillejo keeps to the earlier style in his charming compositions:
-“Dialogo entre el autor y su pluma,” and “Sermones de Amores.” Boscan
-and Garcilaso were the first to introduce the Italian measure into
-Spanish verse. Some poets wrote in both these styles. Gregorio Sylvestre
-is among the best of them; an excellent poet, but very little known.
-
-Garcilaso was the earliest lyrical poet, 1503-1536. His verses are pure
-in style, in the manner of Virgil and Horace. His life is interesting:
-he fought by the side of Charles V., and was killed at the assault of
-the fortress of Frejus (Nice). One of his contemporaries, Hurtado de
-Mendoza, a soldier and statesman, popularized classical studies. His
-best works are the “Rebellion de los Moriscos” and the well-known
-“Lazarillo de Tormes.” The classical style is now universally adopted in
-Spain. Fray Luis de Leon was undoubtedly the best poet of this period.
-His ode on the “Ascension” and his “Poema a la Virgen” may certainly be
-reckoned among the best compositions in the language. Several poets of
-an inferior order belong to the sixteenth century. Cesina, Acuna,
-Figueroa, Medrano, La Torre, Mesa and Alcazar are among the best. Their
-works are clever in parts, but are generally unequal. This
-characteristic becomes a leading feature in Spanish poetry. At the end
-of the seventeenth century lyrics began to decay, but no author carried
-affectation and exaggeration to such a height as Gongora, 1561-1627: a
-gifted poet, full of charm in his simple compositions (vide
-translations by Archdeacon Churton), though most obscure in his
-“Soledades” and “Polifemo.” This style was called in Spain culteranismo,
-and not even the best dramatic authors of the seventeenth century were
-free from its defects. The imitators of Gongora continued until the
-eighteenth century, although here and there a poet like Rioja tried to
-check the movement.
-
-Epic poetry in Spain is inferior to the dramatic and lyrical styles. The
-specimens which exist are old and devoid of inspiration. “El
-Monserrate,” by Virues; “La Cristiada,” by Hojeda; “La Vida de San
-Jose,” by Valdivieso, and “El Bernardo,” by Balbuena, may be quoted as
-examples. “La Araucana,” by Ercilla, contains some poetical passages,
-but in general is hardly more than a historical narrative. “La
-Gatomaquia,” by Lope de Vega, though a burlesque, is considered by many
-critics the best epic poem in the Spanish language.
-
-Dramatic literature unites, perhaps, the highest conditions of
-originality and power. Its earliest productions are the liturgical
-representations of the Middle Ages, “Misterios” or “Autos.” Although
-works of this kind are mentioned as early as the thirteenth century, the
-first which have a distinct dramatic character are the “Coplas de Mingo
-Revulgo” and “El Dialogo entre el Amor y un viejo.” These compositions
-were written under the reign of Henry IV. At the latter part of the
-fifteenth century a series of dramatic works already existed. Juan de la
-Encina began the history of the Spanish drama. Lucas Fernandez was a
-contemporary writer, and shortly afterward Gil Vicente. Torres Naharro,
-1517, published his “Propaladia,” which contains eight comedies. Lope de
-Rueda founded the modern school, and he is imitated and improved by his
-followers. The drama does not attain its highest importance until Lope
-de Vega (1562-1635), the most prolific of Spanish poets. He tells us he
-had written fifteen hundred plays, without counting “Autos” and
-“Entremeses.” Cervantes says that forty companies of actors existed at
-this time in Madrid alone, consisting of no less than one thousand
-actors. In 1636, three hundred companies of actors appeared in different
-parts of Spain. Lope de Vega is rather unequal as a dramatic author;
-but “El mejor Alcalde el rey,” “La Estrella de Sevilla,” “La dama boba,”
-and “La moza de cantaro,” entitle him to rank among the best European
-dramatists. Three authors share Lope’s glory, Tirso, Calderon and
-Alarcon.
-
-No Spanish dramatist has surpassed Tirso in his facility of treating the
-most varied subjects in admirable versification. His comedy of “Don Gil
-de las calzas verdes” is as good as his dramas of “El Rey Don Pedro en
-Madrid,” “El condenado por desconfiado,” or “El convidado de piedra.”
-The popular type of Don Juan is taken from this drama. Alarcon is
-undoubtedly the most philosophical Spanish dramatist. His comedy, “Las
-paredes oyen,” is admirable, and “La verdad sospechosa,” so much admired
-by Corneille, as he tells us himself, when he took the plot for his
-“Menteur.” Calderon is the most popular dramatic author. He idealizes
-more than his predecessors, and his genius embraces the most varied
-subjects. His comedies are charming; as examples, “La dama duende” and
-“Casa con dos puertas” are among the best. “El medico de su honra” is
-full of dramatic power, and nothing can be more poetical than “La Vida
-es sueno” (vide MacCarthy’s translations). The best imitators of the
-great dramatists are Rojas and Moreto: “Garcia del Castanar,” by the
-former, and “Desden con el Desden” of the latter, are equal to the
-dramas of the great masters.
-
-The earliest Spanish novels are “Lazarillo de Tonnes,” by Hurtado de
-Mendoza, and the “Diana Enamorada,” by Monte Mayor. They are followed by
-“El Picaro Guzman de Alfarache” and “El Escudero Marcos de Obregon,” by
-Aleman and Espinel. A great number of novels were written in the
-following century, but were all eclipsed by Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,”
-which is too well known to need any comment.
-
-Several authors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries cultivated
-different literary styles. Quevedo is the most remarkable of them. He
-was the quaintest and most original of humorists. He wrote a number of
-works of real merit, none of which has been so popular as his “Satiras”
-in prose and verse.
-
-Political and moralist writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries are very numerous. Of these Guevara, Sta. Teresa, Fray Luis de
-Granada, Gracian, Saavedra Fajardo, Mariana, Morales, Zurita, and Solis
-are the most remarkable.
-
-The end of the seventeenth century was the worst period of Spanish
-literature. Philip V., the first king of the House of Bourbon, 1700, did
-his utmost to improve the intellectual culture of the country. The
-Biblioteca Real was founded in 1711, and the Academias de la Lengua,
-Historia, and Bellas Artes in 1714; several literary reviews also
-appeared. The best poets of this period are Antonio de Toledo and
-Gerardo Lobo. The only productions, however, of any literary merit are
-the critical works of Flores, Masdeu, Mayans and others. During the
-reign of Charles III., 1759-1788, Melendez wrote some tolerable verses.
-He is followed by Fr. Diego Gonzalez, Cienfuegos, Nicolas de Moratin
-and others. The most original writers of the end of the eighteenth
-century are, however, undoubtedly Leandro Moratin and Ramon. The two
-comedies, “El Si de las ninas” and “El Cafe,” by the former, are
-charming, and the “Sainetes,” by De la Cruz, in the manner of Plautus,
-continue to be very popular in Spain.
-
-Spanish literature of the present century possesses no definite
-character, although several writers can bear comparison with the best
-Spanish authors of other periods. Every school and style has been
-copied: Byron, Schiller, Goethe, Victor Hugo, and Dumas. The earliest
-author of any importance is Quintana, a correct and inspired poet. His
-odes on “La Imprenta,” “Panteon del Escorial,” and “Batalla de
-Trafalgar” are very good. Martinez de la Rosa, Lista, and Nicasio
-Gallegos form a group of able versifiers. Espronceda is a constant
-imitator of Byron, although his legend of “El Estudiante de Salamanca”
-is original, and a very fine composition. Zorrilla is the best
-representative of the romantic school of 1830-40: his works are
-sometimes unequal, and his legends are his best lyrical compositions.
-His finest dramas are “Don Juan Tenorio” and “El Zapatero y el Rey.” The
-“Romances” and drama of “Don Alvaro de Luna,” by the Duke of Rivas, have
-been very popular; but no author is so deservingly so as Breton de los
-Herreres, an excellent writer, who has left behind nearly one hundred
-comedies, some of which, “Marcela,” “Muerete y veras,” “El pelo de la
-dehesa,” etc., are perfect in their way.
-
-
-III
-
-_SPORT_
-
-The Bull-fight, or rather Bull Feast (Fiesta de Toros), is a modern
-sport. Bulls were killed in ancient amphitheaters, but the present modus
-operandi is modern, and, however based on Roman institutions, is
-indubitably a thing devised by the Moors of Spain, for those in Africa
-have neither the sport, the ring, nor the recollection. The principle
-was the exhibition of horsemanship, courage and dexterity with the
-lance; for in the early bull-fight the animal was attacked by gentlemen
-armed only with the Rejon, a short projectile spear about four feet
-long. This was taken from the original Iberian spear, the Sparus of Sil.
-Ital. (viii. 523), the Lancea of Livy (xxxiv. 15), and is seen in the
-hands of the horsemen of the old Romano-Iberian coinage. To be a good
-rider and lancer was essential to the Spanish Caballero. This original
-form of bull-fight (now only given on grand occasions) is called a
-Fiesta Real. Such a one Philip IV. exhibited on the Plaza Mayor of
-Madrid before Charles I. of England; Ferdinand VII. in 1833, at the
-ratification of the Juramento, the swearing allegiance to Isabella II.;
-and Alfonso XII., on his marriages, January 23, 1878, and November 29,
-1879.
-
-These Fiestas Reales form the coronation ceremonial of Spain, and the
-Caballeros en Plaza represent our champions. Bulls were killed, but no
-beef eaten; as a banquet was never a thing of Iberia.
-
-The final conquest of the Moors, and the subsequent cessation of the
-border chivalrous habits of Spaniards, and especially the accession of
-Philip V., proved fatal to this ancient usage of Spain. The spectacle,
-which had withstood the influence of Isabella the Catholic, and had
-beaten the Pope’s Bulls, bowed before the despotism of fashion, and by
-becoming the game of professionals instead of that of gentlemen it was
-stripped of its chivalrous character, and degenerated into the vulgar
-butchery of low mercenary bull-fighters, just as did the rings and
-tournaments of chivalry into those of ruffian pugilists.
-
-The Spanish bulls have been immemorially famous. Hercules, that renowned
-cattle-fancier, was lured into Spain by the lowing of the herds of
-Geryon, the ancestor (se dice) of the Duque de Osuna. The best bulls in
-Andalusia are bred by Cabrera at Utrera, in the identical pastures where
-Geryon’s herds were pastured and “lifted” by the demigod, whence,
-according to Strabo (iii. 169), they were obliged, after fifty days’
-feeding, to be driven off from fear of bursting from fat. Some of the
-finest Castilian bulls, such as appear at Madrid, are bred on the
-Jarama, near Aranjuez.
-
-Bull-fights are extremely expensive, costing from one thousand five
-hundred dollars to two thousand dollars apiece; accordingly, except in
-the chief capitals and Andalusia, they are only got up now and then, on
-great church festivals and upon royal and public rejoicings. As
-Andalusia is the headquarters of the ring, and Seville the capital, the
-alma mater of the tauromachists of the Peninsula, the necessity of
-sending to a distance for artists and animals increases the expense. The
-prices of admittance, compared to the wages of labor in Spain, are high.
-
-The profits of the bull-fight are usually destined for the support of
-hospitals, and, certainly, the fever and the frays subsequent to the
-show provide patients as well as funds. The Plaza is usually under the
-superintendence of a society of noblemen and gentlemen, called
-Maestranzas, instituted in 1562, by Philip II., in the hope of improving
-the breed of Spanish horses and men-at-arms.
-
-The first thing is to secure a good place beforehand, by sending for a
-Boletin de Sombra, a “ticket in the shade.” The prices of the seats vary
-according to position; the best places are on the northern side, in the
-shade. The transit of the sun over the Plaza, the zodiacal progress into
-Taurus, is certainly not the worst calculated astronomical observation
-in Spain: the line of shadow defined on the arena is marked by a
-gradation of prices. The sun of torrid, tawny Spain, on which it once
-never set, is not to be trifled with, and the summer season is selected,
-because pastures are plentiful, which keep the bulls in good condition,
-and the days are longer. The fights take place in the afternoon, when
-the sun is less vertical. The different seats and prices are detailed in
-the bills of the play, with the names of the combatants, and the colors
-and breeds of the bulls.
-
-The day before the fight the bulls destined for the spectacle are
-brought to a site outside the town. No amateur should fail to ride out
-to the pastures from whence the cattle (ganado) are selected. The
-encierro, the driving them from this place to the arena, is a service of
-danger, but is extremely picturesque and national. No artist or
-aficionado should omit attending it The bulls are enticed by tame oxen,
-cabestros, into a road which is barricaded on each side, and then are
-driven full speed by the mounted conocedores into the Plaza. It is so
-exciting a spectacle that the poor who cannot afford to go to the
-bull-fight risk their lives and cloaks in order to get the front places,
-and the best chance of a stray poke en passant.
-
-The next afternoon (Sunday is usually the day) all the world crowds to
-the Plaza de toros; nothing, when the tide is full, can exceed the
-gayety and sparkle of a Spanish public going, eager and dressed in their
-best, to the fight. All the streets or open spaces near the outside of
-the arena are a spectacle. The bull-fight is to Madrid what a review is
-to Paris, and the Derby to London. Sporting men now put on all their
-majo-finery; the distinguished ladies wear on these occasions white lace
-mantillas; a fan, abanico, is quite necessary, as it was among the
-Romans. The aficionados and “the gods” prefer the pit, tendido, the
-lower range, in order, by being nearer, that they may not lose the nice
-traits of tauromaquia. The Plaza has a language to itself, a dialect
-peculiar to the ring. The coup d’œil on entrance is unique; the
-classical scene bursts on the foreigner in all the glory of the south,
-and he is carried back to the Coliseum under Commodus. The president
-sits in the center box. The proceedings open with the procession of the
-performers, the mounted spearmen, picadores; then follow the chulos, the
-attendants on foot, who wear their silk cloaks, capas de durancillo, in
-a peculiar manner, with the arms projecting in front; and, lastly, the
-slayers, the espadas, and the splendid mule-team, el tiro, which is
-destined to carry off the slain. The profession of bull-fighter is very
-low-caste in Spain, although the champions are much courted by some
-young nobles, like the British blackguard boxers, and are the pride and
-darlings of all the lower classes. Those killed on the spot were
-formerly denied the burial rites, as dying without confession, but a
-priest is now in attendance with Su Magestad (the consecrated Host),
-ready to give always spiritual assistance to a dying combatant.
-
-When all the bull-fighting company have advanced and passed the
-president, a trumpet sounds; the president throws the key of the cell of
-the bull to the alguacil or policeman, which he ought to catch in his
-feathered hat. The different performers now take their places as
-fielders do at a cricket match. The bull-fight is a tragedy in three
-acts, lasts about twenty minutes, and each consists of precisely the
-same routine. From six to eight bulls are usually killed during each
-“funcion”; occasionally another is conceded to popular clamor, which
-here will take no denial.
-
-When the door of the cell is opened, the public curiosity to see the
-first rush out is intense; and as none knows whether the bull will
-behave well or ill, all are anxious to judge of his character from the
-way he behaves upon first entering the ring. The animal, turned from his
-dark cell into glare and crowd, feels the novelty of his position; but
-is happily ignorant of his fate, for die he must, however skillful or
-brave his fight. This death does not diminish the sustained interest of
-the spectators as the varied chances in the progress of the acts offer
-infinite incidents and unexpected combinations. In the first of the
-three acts the picadores are the chief performers; three of them are now
-drawn up, one behind the other, to the right, at the tablas, the barrier
-between the arena and spectators; each sits bolt upright on his
-Rosinante, with his lance in rest, and as valiant as Don Quixote. They
-wear the broad-brimmed Thessalian hat; their legs are cased with iron
-and leather, which gives a heavy look; and the right one, which is
-presented to the bull, is the best protected. This greave is termed la
-mona--the more scientific name is gregoriana, from the inventor, Don
-Gregorio Gallo--just as we say a spencer, from the noble earl. The
-spear, garrocha, is defensive rather than offensive; the blade ought not
-to exceed one inch; the sheathing is, however, pushed back when the
-picador anticipates an awkward customer. When the bull charges, the
-picador, holding the lance under his right arm, pushes to the right, and
-turns his horse to the left; the bull, if turned, passes on to the next
-picador. This is called recibir, to receive the point. If a bull is
-turned at the first charge, he seldom comes up well again. A bold bull
-is sometimes cold and shy at first, but grows warmer by being punished.
-Those who are very active, those who paw the ground, are not much
-esteemed; they are hooted by the populace, and execrated as goats,
-little calves, cows, which is no compliment to a bull; and, however
-unskilled in bucolics, all Spaniards are capital judges of bulls in the
-ring. Such animals as show the white feather are loathed, as depriving
-the public of their just rights, and are treated with insult, and,
-moreover, soundly beaten as they pass near the tablas, by forests of
-sticks, la cachiporra. The stick of the elegant majo, when going to the
-bull-fight, is sui generis, and is called la chivata; taper, and between
-four and five feet long, it terminates in a lump or knob, while the top
-is forked, into which the thumb is inserted. This chivata is peeled,
-like the rods of Laban, in alternate rings, black and white or red. The
-lower classes content themselves with a common shillalah; one with a
-knob at the end is preferred, as administering a more impressive whack.
-While a slow bull is beaten and abused, a murderous bull, duro chocante
-carnicero y pegajoso, who kills horses, upsets men, and clears the
-plaza, becomes deservedly a universal favorite; the conquering hero is
-hailed with “Viva toro! viva toro! bravo toro!” Long life is wished to
-the poor beast by those who know he must be killed in ten minutes.
-
-The horses destined for the plaza are of no value; this renders
-Spaniards, who have an eye chiefly to what a thing is worth, indifferent
-to their sufferings. If you remark how cruel it is to “let that poor
-horse struggle in death’s agonies,” they will say, “Ah que! na vale na”
-(“Oh! he is worth nothing”). When his tail quivers in the last
-death-struggle, the spasm is remarked as a jest, mira que cola! The
-torture of the horse is the blot of the bull-fight: no lover of the
-noble beast can witness his sufferings without disgust; the fact of
-these animals being worth nothing in a money point of view increases the
-danger to the rider; it renders them slow, difficult to manage, and very
-unlike those of the ancient combats, when the finest steeds were chosen,
-quick as lightning, turning at touch, and escaping the deadly rush: the
-eyes of these poor animals, who would not otherwise face the bull, are
-bound with a handkerchief like criminals about to be executed; thus they
-await blindfold the fatal rip which is to end their life of misery. If
-only wounded, the gash is sewed up and stopped with tow, as a leak! and
-life is prolonged for new agonies. When the poor brute is dead at last,
-his carcass is stripped as in a battle. The high-class Spaniard admits
-and regrets the cruelty to the horses, but justifies it as a necessity.
-The bull, says he, is a tame, almost a domestic animal, and would never
-fight at all unless first roused by the sight of blood. The wretched
-horse is employed for this purpose as a corpus vile; and the bull,
-having gored him once or twice, becomes “game.”
-
-The picadores are subject to hair-breadth escapes and severe falls: few
-have a sound rib left. The bull often tosses horse and rider in one run;
-and when the victims fall on the ground, exhausts his rage on his
-prostrate enemies, till lured away by the glittering cloaks of the
-chulos, who come to the assistance of the fallen picador. These horsemen
-often show marvelous skill in managing to place their horses as a
-rampart between them and the bull. When these deadly struggles take
-place, when life hangs on a thread, the amphitheater is peopled with
-heads. Every expression of anxiety, eagerness, fear, horror, and delight
-is stamped on speaking countenances. These feelings are wrought up to a
-pitch when the horse, maddened with wounds and terror, plunging in the
-death-struggle, the crimson streams of blood streaking his
-sweat-whitened body, flies from the infuriated bull, still pursuing,
-still goring: then is displayed the nerve, presence of mind, and
-horsemanship of the undismayed picador. It is, in truth, a piteous sight
-to see the poor dying horses treading out their entrails, yet saving
-their riders unhurt. The miserable steed, when dead, is dragged out,
-leaving a bloody furrow on the sand. The picador, if wounded, is carried
-out and forgotten--los muertos y idos, no tienen amigos (the dead and
-absent have no friends)--a new combatant fills the gap, the battle
-rages, he is not missed, fresh incidents arise, and no time is left for
-regret or reflection. The bull bears on his neck a ribbon, la devisa;
-this is the trophy which is most acceptable to the querida of a buen
-torero. The bull is the hero of the scene, yet, like Milton’s Satan, he
-is foredoomed and without reprieve. Nothing can save him from the
-certain fate which awaits all, whether brave or cowardly. The poor
-creatures sometimes endeavor in vain to escape, and leap over the
-barrier (barrera) into the tendido, among the spectators, upsetting
-sentinels, water-sellers, etc., and creating a most amusing hubbub. The
-bull which shows this craven turn--un tunante cobarde picaro--is not
-deemed worthy of a noble death, by the sword. He is baited, pulled down,
-and stabbed in the spine. A bull that flinches from death is scouted by
-all Spaniards, who neither beg for their own life nor spare that of a
-foe.
-
-At the signal of the president, and sound of a trumpet, the second act
-commences with the chulos. This word chulo signifies, in the Arabic, a
-lad, a clown, as at our circus. They are picked young men, who commence
-in these parts their tauromachian career. The duty of this light
-division is to draw off the bull from the picador when endangered, which
-they do with their colored cloaks; their address and agility are
-surprising, they skim over the sand like glittering humming-birds,
-scarcely touching the earth. They are dressed, á lo majo, in short
-breeches, and without gaiters, just like Figaro in the opera of the
-“Barbiere de Sevilla.” Their hair is tied into a knot behind, mono, and
-inclosed in the once universal silk net, the redecilla--the identical
-reticulum--of which so many instances are seen on ancient Etruscan
-vases. No bull-fighter ever arrives at the top of his profession without
-first excelling as a chulo (apprentice); then he begins to be taught how
-to entice the bull, llamar al toro, and to learn his mode of attack,
-and how to parry it. The most dangerous moment is when these chulos
-venture out into the middle of the plaza, and are followed by the bull
-to the barrier, in which there is a small ledge, on which they place
-their foot and vault over, and a narrow slit in the boarding, through
-which they slip. Their escapes are marvelous; they seem really
-sometimes, so close is the run, to be helped over the fence by the
-bull’s horns. Occasionally some curious suertes are exhibited by chulos
-and expert toreros, which do not strictly belong to the regular drama;
-such as the suerte de la capa, where the bull is braved with no other
-defense but a cloak; another, the salto tras cuerno, when the performer,
-as the bull lowers his head to toss him, places his foot between his
-horns and is lifted over him. The chulos, in the second act, are the
-sole performers; another exclusive part is to place small barbed darts,
-banderillas, which are ornamented with cut paper of different colors, on
-each side of the neck of the bull. The banderilleros go right up to him,
-holding the arrows at the shaft’s end, and pointing the barbs at the
-bull; just when the animal stoops to toss them, they dart them into his
-neck and slip aside. The service appears to be more dangerous than it
-is, but it requires a quick eye, a light hand and foot. The barbs should
-be placed exactly on each side--a pretty pair, a good match--buenos
-pares. Sometimes these arrows are provided with crackers, which, by
-means of a detonating powder, explode the moment they are affixed in the
-neck, banderillas de fuego. The agony of the tortured animal frequently
-makes him bound like a kid, to the frantic delight of the people. A very
-clever banderillero will sometimes seat himself in a chair, wait for
-the bull’s approach, plant the arrows in his neck, and slip away,
-leaving the chair to be tossed into the air. This feat is uncommon, and
-gains immense applause.
-
-The last trumpet now sounds; the arena is cleared for the third act; the
-espada, the executioner, the man of death, stands before his victim
-alone, and thus concentrates in himself an interest previously frittered
-among the number of combatants. On entering, he addresses the president,
-and throws his montera, his cap, to the ground, and swears he will do
-his duty. In his right hand he holds a long straight Toledan blade, la
-spada; in his left he waves the muleta, the red flag, the engano, the
-lure, which ought not (so Romero laid down) to be so large as the
-standard of a religious brotherhood (cofradia), nor so small as a lady’s
-pocket-handkerchief (panuelito de senorita): it should be about a yard
-square. The color is red, because that best irritates the bull and
-conceals blood. There is always a spare matador, in case of accidents,
-which may happen in the best regulated bull-fights; he is called media
-espada, or sobresaliente. The espada (el diestro, the cunning in fence
-in olden books) advances to the bull, in order to entice him toward
-him--citarlo á la suerte, á la jurisdiccion del engano--to subpœna him,
-to get his head into chancery, as our ring would say; he next rapidly
-studies his character, plays with him a little, allows him to run once
-or twice on the muleta, and then prepares for the coup de grace. There
-are several sorts of bulls--levantados, the bold and rushing; parados,
-the slow and sly; aplomados, the heavy and leaden. The bold are the
-easiest to kill; they rush, shutting their eyes, right on to the lure or
-flag. The worst of all are the sly bulls; when they are marrajos,
-cunning and not running straight, when they are revueltos, when they
-stop in their charge and run at the man instead of the flag, they are
-most dangerous. The espada who is long killing his bull, or shows the
-white feather, is insulted by the jeers of the impatient populace; he
-nevertheless remains cool and collected, in proportion as the spectators
-and bull are mad. There are many suertes or ways of killing the bull;
-the principal is la suerte de frente--the espada receives the charge on
-his sword, lo mato de un recibido. The volapie, or half-volley, is
-beautiful, but dangerous; the matador takes him by advancing,
-corriendoselo. A firm hand, eye, and nerve form the essence of the art;
-the sword enters just between the left shoulder and the blade. In
-nothing is the real fancy so fastidious as in the exact nicety of the
-placing this death-wound; when the thrust is true--buen estoque--death
-is instantaneous, and the bull, vomiting forth blood, drops at the feet
-of his conqueror, who, drawing the sword, waves it in triumph over the
-fallen foe. It is indeed the triumph of knowledge over brute force; all
-that was fire, fury, passion, and life, falls in an instant, still
-forever.
-
-The team of mules now enter, glittering with flags, and tinkling with
-bells, whose gay decorations contrast with the stern cruelty and blood;
-the dead bull is carried off at a rapid gallop, which always delights
-the populace. The espada wipes the hot blood from his sword, and bows
-with admirable sangfroid to the spectators, who throw their hats into
-the arena, a compliment which he returns by throwing them back again.
-
-When a bull will not run at all at the picador, or at the muleta, he is
-called a toro abanto, and the media luna, the half-moon, is called for;
-this is the cruel ancient Oriental mode of houghing the cattle (Joshua
-xi. 6). The instrument is the Iberian bident--a sharp steel crescent
-placed in a long pole. The cowardly blow is given from behind; and when
-the poor beast is crippled, an assistant, the cachetero, pierces the
-spinal marrow with his cachete--puntilla, or pointed dagger--with a
-traitorous stab from behind. This is the usual method of slaughtering
-cattle in Spain. To perform all these operations (el desjarretar) is
-considered beneath the dignity of the matadores or espadas; some of
-them, however, will kill the bull by plunging the point of their sword
-in the vertebræ, el descabellar--the danger gives dignity to the
-difficult feat. The identical process obtains in each of the fights that
-follow. After a short collapse, a fresh object raises a new desire, and
-the fierce sport is renewed through eight repetitions; and not till
-darkness covers the heavens do the mob retire to sacrifice the rest of
-the night to Bacchus and Venus, with a passing homage to the knife.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX
-
-CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES
-
-
-NO. I
-
-Carthaginian Domination in Spain 238 to 200 B.C.
-Roman Domination 200 B.C. to 414 A.D.
-Visigothic Domination 414 A.D. to 711 A.D.
-
-
-_Visigothic Kings_
-
- A.D.
-Ataulfo 414, D. 417
-Sigerico 417
-Walia 420
-Teodoredo 451
-Turismundo 454
-Teodorico 466
-Eurico 483
-
- This king, after conquering the Suevi and other races, is
- considered he founder of the monarchy.
-
-Alarico D. 505
-Gesaleico 510
-Amalarico 531
-Teudis 548
-Teudiselo 549
-Agila 554
-Atanagildo 567
-Liuva I. 572
-Leovigildo 586
-
- After destroying the barbarians that still remained in the country,
- he was the first king who ruled over the whole of the Peninsula.
-
-Recaredo I. 601
-
- Summoned the 3d Council of Toledo, renounced Arianism, and became
- the first Catholic king of Spain.
-
-Liuva II. 603
-Witerico 610
-Gundemaro 612
-Sisebuto 621
-Recaredo II. 621
-Suintila 631
-Sisenando 635
-Tulga 640
-Chindasvinto 650
-Recesvinto 672
-Wamba 680
-Ervigio 687
-Egica 701
-Witiza 709
-Don Rodrigo 711
-
- The Moors entered Spain and defeated Don Rodrigo at the battle of
- Guadalete, who disappeared there. The Moors occupied in the two
- following years almost the whole of the Peninsula, and governed
- under the dependence of the Caliphs of Damascus.
-
-
-_Moorish Rulers in Spain_
-
-Emirs dependent on the
- Caliphs of Damascus 711-715
-Independent Caliphate established
- by the Ommeyah
- family, the capital being
- Cordova 755-1009
-Kings of Taifas, governors
- of the provinces which declared
- themselves independent
- during the last
- Caliphate, Hischen II. 1009-1090
-The Almoravides from Africa
- established themselves
- in the Moorish territory
- of the Peninsula 1090-1157
-The Almohades conquered
- the Almoravides 1157-1212
-Kings of Granada. The
- Moorish domination is
- reduced to the kingdom
- of Granada 1226-1492
-
- The rule of the Moors in Spain ends in 1492, at the conquest of
- Granada.
-
-
-_Kings of Asturias, Leon, and Castile_
-
-Pelayo (the re-conquest begins) 718, D. 737
-Favila 739
-Alonso I., el Catolico 757
-Favila I. (fixes his Court at Oviedo) 768
-Aurelio 774
-Silo 783
-Mauregato 788
-Bermudo I., el Diacono 795
-Alonso II., el Casto 843
-Ramiro I. 850
-Ordoño I. 865
-Alonso III., el Magno 910
-
- Divided the kingdom of Galicia, Leon, and Asturias, among his sons,
- the three following kings.
-
-Garcia 913
-Ordoño II. 923
-Fruela II. 924
-
- Ordoño fixed his Court at Leon, and here end the named kings or
- Asturias.
-
-Alonso IV., el Monge 930
-Ramiro II. 950
-Ordoño III. 955
-Sancho I., el Craso 967
-Ramiro III. 982
-Bermudo II. 999
-Alonso V., el Noble 1028
-Bermudo III. 1037
-
- The territory of Castile, which formed a separate state, governed
- by _Condes_, passed to Dona Sancha and Don Fernando I., who
- entitled themselves Kings of Castile and Leon.
-
-Fernando I. and Dona Sancha 1065
-Sancho II., el Fuerte 1073
-Alfonso VI. 1108
- (Conquered Toledo in 1085.)
-Dona Urraca 1126
-Alfonso VII., el Emperador 1157
-
- At his death the kingdoms of Castile and Leon are divided among the
- six following kings:
-
-Sancho III. (Castilla) 1158
-Fernando II. (Leon) 1188
-Alfonso VIII. (Castilla) 1214
-Alfonso IX. (Leon) 1230
-Enrique I. (Castilla) 1217
-
- Dona Berenguela, who abdicated the crown of Castile in favor of her
- son, Fernando III., who inherited also the crown of Leon from his
- father, Alfonso IX.
-
-Fernando III., King of Castile
- and Leon 1252
-
- He conquered Cordova, Jaen, and Seville.
-
-Alonso X., el Sabio 1284
-Sancho IV., el Bravo 1295
-Fernando IV., el Emplazado 1312
-Alonso XI. 1350
-Pedro I., el Cruel 1369
-Enrique II., el Bastardo 1379
-Juan I. 1390
-Enrique III., el Doliente 1407
-Juan II. 1454
-Enrique IV., el Impotente 1474
-Dona Isabel, la Catolica 1504
-Fernando V. de Aragon 1516
-Dona Juana, la loca 1555
-Felipe I., el Hermoso, first king
- of the house of Austria 1505
-Carlos V., Emperador 1558
-Felipe II. 1598
-Felipe III. 1621
-Felipe IV. 1665
-Carlos II. 1700
-Felipe V. (first king of the house
- of Bourbon) abdicated in 1724
-Luis I. 1724
-Felipe V. 1746
-Fernando VI. 1759
-Carlos III. 1788
-Carlos IV., abdicated 1808
-Fernando VII. 1833
-Isabel II., dethroned 1868
-Gobierno Provisional 1871
-Amadeo de Saboya abdicated 1873
-Spanish Republic 1874
-Alfonso XII died 1886
-
-
-_Kings of Navarre._
-
- The inhabitants of Navarre began the re-conquest from the middle of
- the 8th century. Their rulers were called condes, or kings, until
- Sancho Abarca widened the territory; from that time they are always
- called kings of Navarre.
-
-Sancho Abarca 980-994
-Garcia III. 1000
-Sancho III., el Mayor 1038
-Garcia IV. 1057
-Sancho IV. 1076
-Sancho Ramirez V. 1092
-
- This king, and the two that followed, were likewise kings of
- Aragon.
-
-Pedro I. 1106
-Alfonso, el Batallador 1134
-Garcia Ramirez IV. 1150
-Sancho VI., el Sabio 1194
-Sancho VII., el Fuerte 1234
-
- Here begin the kings of the House of Champagne.
-
-Teobaldo I. 1253
-Teobaldo II. 1270
-Enrique I. 1273
-Juana I. 1304
-
- On her marriage with Philip le Bel, Navarre passed to the house of
- France.
-
-Luis Hutin 1316
-Felipe le Long 1320
-Carlos I. de Navarra, IV.
- de Francia 1329
-Juana II. 1343
-Carlos II. d’Evreux 1387
-Carlos III. 1425
-Dona Blanca y Juan I. 1479
-Francisco Febo 1483
-Catalina 1512
-
- Fernando V. of Navarre took possession in 1512 of Navarre, and it
- was then incorporated with Castile.
-
-
-_Kings of Aragon._
-
- Aragon belonged to the kingdom of Navarre until Sancho III. gave it
- to his son Ramiro.
-
-Ramiro I. 1035, D. 1063
-Sancho I. 1094
-Pedro I. 1104
-Alfonso I., el Batallador 1134
-Ramiro II., el Monge 1137
-
- Aragon and Cataluña are united.
-
-Petronila 1162
-Alfonso II. 1196
-Pedro II. 1213
-Jaime I., el Conquistador 1276
-Pedro III. 1285
-
- Sicily is united to Aragon.
-
-Alfonso III. 1291
-Jaime II. 1327
-Alfonso IV. 1336
-Pedro IV. 1387
-Juan I. 1395
-Martin 1410
-Fernando, el de Antequera 1416
-Alfonso V. 1458
-Juan II. 1470
-Fernando el Catolico.
-
- Aragon passes to the crown of Castile.
-
-
-_Counts of Barcelona._
-
- In the 8th and 9th centuries Cataluña belonged to Charlemagne and
- his successors. Wilfredo was the first independent Conde.
-
-Wilfredo el Belloso 864-898
-Borrell I. 912
-Suniario 917
-Borrell II. and his brother Miron 992
-Ramon Borrell 1018
-Ramon Berenguer I. 1025
-Ramon Berenguer II. 1077
-Berenguer and Ramon Berenguer III. 1113
-Ramon Berenguer IV. 1131
-
- Ramon Berenguer V. married Dona Petronila de Aragon, and this
- kingdom was incorporated with the Condado de Cataluña.
-
-
-NO. II
-
-_Contemporary Sovereigns_
-
-The periods have been selected during which leading events in Spanish
-history have occurred.
-
-A.D. Spain. England. France. Rome.
- 800 Alonso II. el Casto Egbert Charlemagne Leo III.
- 877 Alonso III. el Magno Alfred Louis II. John VII.
- 996 Ramiro III. Ethelred II. Hugh Capet Gregory V.
-1075 Sancho II. William the Philip I. Gregory VII.
- Conqueror
-1155 Alfonso VII. Henry II. Louis VII. { Adrian IV.
- { Breakspeare
-1245 San Fernando Henry III. St. Louis Innocent IV.
-1345 Alfonso XI. Edward III. Philip VI. Benedict VI.
-1360 Pedro el Cruel Edward III. John II. Innocent VI.
-1485 Isabel la Catolica Henry VII. Charles VIII. Innocent VIII.
-1515 Fernando de Aragon Henry VIII. Francis I. Leo X.
-1550 Carlos V. Edward VI. Henry II. Paul III.
-1560 Felipe II. Elizabeth Charles IX. Pius IV.
-1644 Felipe IV. Charles I. Louis XIV. Innocent X.
-1705 Felipe V. Anne Louis XIV. Clement XI.
-1760 Carlos III. George III. Louis XV. Clement XIII.
-1808 Fernando VII. George III. Napoleon I. Pius VII.
-1840 Isabel II. } { Louis Philippe { Gregory XVI.
- } { Napoleon III. { and Pius IX.
-1877 Alfonso XII. } Victoria French Republic Leo XIII.
-1886 Cristina, }
- queen-regent }
-1886 Alfonso XIII. }
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] “Historia general de España,” by Juan de Mariana. 9 vols.,
-Valencia, 1783-96.
-
-[2] _Al Manzor al Allah_: “The Victor of God; or, Victorious by the
-Grace of God.”
-
-[3] _Mas Moros mas ganancia_, “The more the Moors, the greater the
-booty,” was one of his sayings, and it has passed into a well-known
-national proverb.
-
-[4] Having kicked to pieces the splendid furniture and beaten the Papal
-chamberlain, he proceeded to threaten to caparison his horse with the
-rich hangings of the chapel, if the Pope refused him instant Absolution!
-
- Si no me absolveis, el Papa,
- Seriaos mal contado
- Que do vuestras ricas ropas
- Cubriré yo mi caballo!
- --Wolf and Hofmann, “Cid Ballads.”
-
-
-[5] Muley is an Arabic word meaning “my lord.”
-
-[6] Certainly in 1480, possibly not five-and-twenty years later. From
-curious criminal proceedings instituted against the Corregidor of
-Medina del Campo, we learn that that high judicial authority had not
-hesitated to declare that the soul of Isabella had gone direct to hell
-for her cruel oppression of her subjects, and that King Ferdinand
-was a thief and a robber, and that all the people round Medina and
-Valladolid, where the queen was best known, had formed the same
-judgment of her. “Arch. Gen. Simancas,” Estado, Legajo i., folio 192;
-“Calendar of State Papers” (Spain), Supplement to i. and ii. (1868), p.
-27.
-
-[7] From January, 1493, till October, 1497.
-
-[8] Legaspi and Guido Lavezares, under oath, made promises of rewards
-to the Lacandola family and a remission of tribute in perpetuity,
-but they were not fulfilled. In the following century--year 1660--it
-appears that the descendants of the rajah Lacandola still upheld the
-Spanish authority, and having become sorely impoverished thereby, the
-heir of the family petitioned the governor (Sabiniano Manrique de
-Lara) to make good the honor of his first predecessors. Eventually
-the Lacandolas were exempted from the payment of tribute and poll tax
-forever, as recompense for the filching of their domains.
-
-In 1884, when the fiscal reforms were introduced which abolished the
-tribute and established in lieu thereof a document of personal identity
-(cedula personal), for which a tax is levied, the last vestige of
-privilege disappeared.
-
-Descendants of Lacandola are still to be met with in several villages
-near Manila. They do not seem to have materially profited by their
-transcendent ancestry--one of them was serving as a waiter in a French
-restaurant in the capital in 1885.
-
-[9] Guido de Lavezares deposed a sultan in Borneo, in order to aid
-another to the throne, and even asked permission of King Philip II. to
-conquer China, which of course was not conceded to him. _Vide_ also the
-history of the destruction of the Aztec (Mexican) and Incas (Peruvian)
-dynasties by the Spaniards.
-
-[10] According to Juan de la Concepcion, in his “Hist. Gen. de
-Philipinas,” Vol I., page 431, Li-ma-hong made his escape by cutting a
-canal for his ships to pass through, but this appears highly improbable
-under the circumstances.
-
-[11] Other authors assert that only Soliman rebelled.
-
-[12] Bondage in the Philippines was apparently not so necessary for
-the interests of the Church as it was in Cuba, where a commission of
-friars, appointed soon after the discovery of the island to deliberate
-on the policy of partially permitting slavery there, reported “that
-the Indians would not labor without compulsion, and that, unless they
-labored, they could not be brought into communication with the whites,
-nor be converted to Christianity.” Vide W. H. Prescott’s “Hist. of the
-Conquest of Mexico.”
-
-[13] “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion Vol. III.,
-Chap. IX., page 365, pub. Manila, 1788.
-
-[14] So tenacious was the opposition brought by the Austin friars both
-in Manila and the provinces that the British appear to have regarded
-them as their special foes.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spain and Her Colonies (World's Best
-Histories), by Archibald Wilberforce
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Spain and Her Colonies (World's Best Histories)
- Compiled from the Best Authorities
-
-Author: Archibald Wilberforce
-
-Release Date: July 30, 2020 [EBook #62786]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPAIN AND HER COLONIES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by D A Alexander, Chuck Greif, Natrona County
-Public Library System, in Casper, Wyoming, for generously
-donating the books in this project to PG and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/cover.jpg">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image of
-the book's cover unavailable.]" /></a>
-</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%;
-padding:1%;">
-<tr><td>
-
-<p class="c"><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a><br />
-<a href="#map">Map of Spain and Portugal</a><br />
-<a href="#APPENDIX">Chronological Tables</a></p>
-<p class="nind">(etext transcriber's note: The various spellings of Spanish words
-and names have not been corrected or normalized.)</p></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/alfonso.jpg">
-<img src="images/alfonso.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<br />
-<span class="caption">ALFONSO XIII., KING OF SPAIN</span>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c">THE WORLD’S BEST HISTORIES</p>
-
-<h1>
-SPAIN<br /><small><small>
-AND HER COLONIES</small></small></h1>
-
-<p class="c"><small>COMPILED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES</small><br />
-BY ARCHIBALD WILBERFORCE<br />
-<br /><br />
-<i>WITH FRONTISPIECE</i><br />
-<br /><br />
-<br /><br />
-THE CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICATION SOCIETY<br />
-NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p class="cb"><big>SPAIN</big><br />
-AND &nbsp; HER &nbsp; COLONIES</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Spain in Antiquity</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_7">7</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">The Caliphate of Cordova</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_16">16</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Medieval Spain</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_30">30</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Moorish Spain</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_61">61</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">The Inquisition</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_83">83</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Their Catholic Majesties</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_100">100</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">United Spain</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_140">140</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Modern Spain</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_162">162</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span>
-<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Colonial Spain</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_206">206</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">The Fall of an Empire</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_225">225</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">The Philippines</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_251">251</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">The Hispano-American War</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_320">320</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2">Spanish Art, Literature, and Sport</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_351">351</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#I">I.</a> </td><td valign="top">Painting and Architecture</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_351">351</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#II">II.</a></td><td valign="top"> Spanish Literature</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_370">370</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#III">III.</a></td><td valign="top"> Sport</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_379">379</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" class="smcap" colspan="2"><a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_393">393</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<h2><a name="THE_HISTORY_OF_SPAIN_HISTORY_OF_SPAIN"
-id="THE_HISTORY_OF_SPAIN_HISTORY_OF_SPAIN"></a>THE HISTORY OF SPAIN</h2>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">SPAIN IN ANTIQUITY</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE FIRST LAWS AND THE FIRST INVADERS&mdash;GREEKS, PHŒNICIANS, ROMANS AND
-GOTHS</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Hispania</span> was the name by which the Romans called the peninsula which is
-made up of Spain and Portugal. The origin of the name is disputed. To
-the Greeks the country was known as Hesperia&mdash;the Land of the Setting
-Sun. According to Mariana,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Spain is called after its founder,
-Hispanus, a son or grandson of Hercules. But, for reasons hereinafter
-related, better authorities derive it from the Phœnician <i>Span</i>.</p>
-
-<p>There is a legend which Mariana recites, to the effect that the primal
-laws of Spain were written in verse, and framed six thousand years
-before the beginning of Time. To medieval makers of chronicles, Tubal,
-fifth son of Japhet, was the first to set foot on its shore. But earlier
-historians, ignorant of Noah’s descendant, and, it may be, better
-informed, hold that after the episodes connected with the Golden Fleece,
-the Argonauts, guided by Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span>cules, sailed the seas and loitered a while
-in Spain, where they were joined by refugees escaping from the totter
-and fall of Troy. Black was their national color. It has been retained
-in the mantillas of to-day. After the Greek adventurers came the
-Phœnicians. The latter, a peaceful people, born traders, as are all of
-Semitic origin, founded a colony at Gaddir (Cadiz). In a remoter era
-they had established themselves at Canaan, where they built Bylos, Sidon
-and Tyre. From Tyre emigrants moved to Africa. Their headquarters was
-Kartha-Hadath, literally Newtown, that Carthage in whose ruins Marius
-was to weep. The Phœnicians, as has been noted, were a peaceful people.
-Under a burning sun their younger brothers developed into tigers. They
-had the storm for ally. They ravaged the coast like whirlwinds. They
-took Sicily, then Sardinia. Presently there was a quarrel at Gaddir. It
-was only natural that the Phœnicians should ask aid of their relatives.
-The Carthaginians responded, and, finding the country to their taste,
-took possession of it on their own account. To the Romans, with whom
-already they had crossed swords, they said nothing of this new
-possession. It seemed wiser to leave it unmentioned than to guard it
-with protecting, yet disclosive, treaties. More than once they scuttled
-their triremes&mdash;suspicious sails were following them to its shore. From
-this vigilance the name of Spain is derived. In Punic, <i>Span</i> signifies
-hidden.</p>
-
-<p>The hiding of Spain was possible when the Romans were still in the
-nursery. But when the Romans grew up, when they had conquered Greece,
-and all of Italy was theirs, their enterprises developed. Up to this
-time the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> two nations had been almost allies. At once they were open
-rivals. It was a question between them as to whom the world should
-belong.</p>
-
-<p>The arguments on this subject, known as the Punic Wars, were three in
-number. The first resulted in a loss of Sicily and Sardinia. In the
-second, Spain went. In the third, Carthage was razed to the ground.</p>
-
-<p>It was with the conquest of Sagentum&mdash;a conquest not achieved until the
-surviving inhabitants of that beleaguered city had committed
-suicide&mdash;that annexation began. Then, slowly, at one time advancing, at
-another retreating, now defeated, now defeating, the Romans promenaded
-their eagles down the coast. Scipio came and watched the
-self-destruction of the Numantians, as Hannibal had watched the
-Sagentums fall. Pompey, boasting that he had made the Republic mistress
-of a thousand towns, came too; and after him Cæsar, who, long before, as
-simple quæstor, had wept at Cadiz because of Alexander, who at his age
-had conquered the world&mdash;Cæsar, his face blanched with tireless
-debauches, came back and gave the land its <i>coup de grace</i>. In this
-fashion, with an unhealed wound in every province, Spain crawled down to
-Augustus’s feet. A toga was thrown over her. When it was withdrawn the
-wounds had healed. She was a Roman province, the most flourishing,
-perhaps, and surely the most fair.</p>
-
-<p>The fusion of the two peoples was immediate. The native soldiery were
-sent off to bleed in the four corners of the globe, to that Ultima Thule
-where the Britons lived and which it took years to reach, or nearer home
-in Gaul, or else far to the north among the Teuton States; and, in the
-absence of an element which might have turned ugly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> the Romans found it
-easy work to open school. They had always been partial to Greek
-learning, and they inculcated it on the slightest pretext. They imported
-their borrowed Pantheon, their local Hercules, all the metamorphosed and
-irritable gods, and with becoming liberality added to them those
-divinities whom their adopted children most revered. It was in this way
-that the fusion of the two races came about. When Augustus assumed the
-purple, throughout the entire peninsula Latin was generally in use. It
-was not of the purest, to be sure. It had been beaten in with the sword,
-the accent was rough and the construction bristled with barbarisms; but
-still it was Latin, and needed only a generation of sandpaper to become
-polished and refined. But perhaps the least recognized factor in the
-fusion of the two peoples was a growing and common taste for polite
-literature. Such as the Romans possessed was, like their architecture,
-their science, philosophy and religion, borrowed outright from the
-Greeks. They were hungry for new ideas. These the Spaniards undertook to
-provide. They had descended from a race whose fabulous laws were written
-in verse, and something of that legendary inspiration must have
-accompanied them through ages of preceding strife, for suddenly Boetica
-was peopled with poets. In connection with this it may be noted that,
-apart from the crop of Augustan rhymsters and essayists, almost
-everything in the way of literature which Rome subsequently produced is
-the work of Spaniards. Lucan and the Senecas were Boeticans&mdash;Martial,
-Florus, Quintillian, Pomponius Mila were all of that race. J’en passe et
-des meilleurs. The Romans, trained by the Greeks, were, it is true, the
-teachers. Under their heavy hand the young An<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span>dalusians lost their way
-among the clouds of Aristophanes, just as we have done ourselves; they
-spouted the <i>Tityre tu</i>, and the <i>arma virum</i>, they followed the Odyssey
-and learned that, in ages as remote to them as they are to us, Ulysses
-had visited their coast. Indeed the Romans did what they could, and if
-their pupils surpassed them it was owing to the lack-luster of their own
-imaginations. But the education of backward Spain was not limited to
-Greek poets and Augustan bores. Lessons in drawing were given, not as an
-extra, but as part of the ordinary curriculum. The sciences, too, were
-taught, the blackboard was brought into use, and Euclid&mdash;another
-Greek&mdash;was expounded on the very soil that under newer conquerors was to
-produce the charms and seductions of Algebra. Added to this, industry
-was not neglected. The Romans got from them not poets alone, but
-woolens, calicoes, and barbers too, emperors even. Trajan was an
-Andalou, so was Hadrian, and so also was that sceptered misanthrope
-Marcus Aurelius. As for arms, it is written in blood that the Romans
-would have no others than those which came from Spain. The plebs dressed
-themselves there. Strabo says that all the ready-made clothing came from
-Tarragona. From Malaga, which in a fair wind was but six days’ sail from
-the Tiber’s mouth, came potted herring, fat, black grapes that stained
-the chin, and wax yellow as amber. From Cadiz came the rarest purple,
-wine headier than Falernian, honey sweeter than that of Hymettus, and
-jars of pale, transparent oil. To Iviça the Romans sent their togas;
-there was a baphia there, a dyeing establishment, which, to be simply
-charming, needed but the signboard <i>Morituri te salutamus</i>. And from the
-banks of the Betis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> there came for the lupanars girls with the Orient in
-their eyes, and lips that said “Drink me.” In this pleasant fashion
-Rome, after conquering Spain, sat down to banquet on her products. The
-Imperial City then was not unlike a professional pugilist who is unable
-to find a worthy opponent; possible rivals had been slugged into
-subjection. Perhaps she was weary, too. However great the future of a
-combatant may be, there comes an hour when contention palls and peace
-has charms. In any event, Rome at that time was more occupied in
-assimilating her dominions than in extending the wonders of her sway.
-And it was during this caprice that Spain found her fifty races fused in
-one. On the distant throne was a procession of despots, terribly
-tyrannical, yet doing what good they could. In return for flowers,
-fruits and pretty girls, they gave roads, aqueducts, arenas, games and
-vice. Claud introduced new fashions; Nero, the saturnalia. Each of the
-emperors did what he was able, even to Hadrian, who increased the number
-of Jews. It was during his reign that were felt the first tremors of
-that cataclysm in which antiquity was to disappear. Rome was so
-thoroughly mistress of the world that to master her Nature had to
-produce new races. The parturitions, as we know, were successful.
-Already the blue victorious eyes of Vandal and of Goth were peering down
-at Rome; already they had whispered together, and over the hydromel had
-drunk to her fall.</p>
-
-<p>The Goths were a wonderful people. When they first appear in history
-their hair was tossed and tangled by the salt winds of the Baltic.
-Later, when in tattered furs they issued from the fens of the Danube,
-they startled the hardiest warriors of the world, the descendants of
-that nursling<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> of the gaunt she-wolf. Little by little from vagabond
-herders they consolidated first into tribes, then into a nation, finally
-into an army that beat at the gates of Rome. There they loitered a
-moment, a century at most. When they receded again with plunder and with
-slaves they left an emperor behind. Soon they were more turbulent than
-ever. They swept over antiquity like a tide, their waves subsiding only
-to rise anew. And just as the earth was oscillating beneath their
-weight, from the steppes of Tartary issued cyclones of Huns. Where they
-passed, the plains remained forever bare. In the shock of their
-onslaught the empire of the Goths was sundered. Some of them, the
-Ostrogoths, went back to their cattle, others, the Visigoths, went down
-to have another word with Rome. It was then that their cousins the
-Vandals got their fingers on her throat and frightened the world with
-her cries. In the strain of incessant shrieks the Imperial City fell.
-From out the ruins a mitered prelate dragged a throne. Paganism had been
-strangled; antiquity was dead; new creeds and new races were
-refurbishing the world. Among the latter the Goths still prowled. In the
-advance through the centuries, in the journey from the Baltic to the
-Mediterranean, in the friction with the Attic refinement which the
-Romans had acquired, the Goths left some of their barbarism on the
-road&mdash;not much, however. Historians have it that when they took
-possession of Spain they manifested a love of art, a desire for culture,
-and that they affected the manners and usages of polite society. But
-historians are privileged liars. The majority of those who have treated
-the subject admired the Goths because they fancied them Christians, and
-in the admiration they placed them in flat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span>tering contrast to their
-predecessors who were pagans, and to their successors who were
-Muhammadans. As a matter of fact&mdash;one that is amply attested in local
-chronicles&mdash;they were coarse, illiterate and stupid as carps; moreover,
-they were not Christians, they were Arians, and they were Arians
-precisely as they were Goths&mdash;they were born so. To the dogma of the
-Trinity and the consubstantiability or non-consubstantiability of Jesus
-the Christ they were as ignorant as of the formation of the earth.
-Throughout Europe at that time not a thread of light was discernible.
-The dark ages had begun. In the general obscurity the Goths were not a
-bit more brilliant than their neighbors. Under their hand civilization
-disappeared; in return they gave the Spanish nothing but gutturals and a
-taste for chicanery. In ninety and nine cases, the specimens of
-architecture which cheap-trippers admire as due to them are of Saracen
-workmanship. The monuments which they did erect are not disproportioned
-perhaps; yet, whatever the casuist may affirm, there is still a margin
-between the commonplace and the beautiful. In brief, to the Visigoths
-the world owes less than nothing. They let Andalusia retrograde for
-three hundred years, and delayed the discovery and development of
-America. Previous to their coming Cadiz had been a famous seaport. The
-Romans called it The Ship of Stone. Its sons had been immemorial
-explorers. The presentiment of another land across the sea was theirs by
-intuition. They were constantly extending their expeditions. They were
-in love with the sunset, they sailed as near it as they could, returned
-for more provisions, and sailed again; nearer, and ever nearer that way.
-To the Church the theory of the antipodes was an abominable her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span>esy. It
-was taught that the earth was a flat parallelogram, its extremities
-walled by mountains that supported the skies. Lactance was particularly
-vehement on this point, so too was St. Jerome. Vergilius in asserting
-the contrary threw Christendom into indignant convulsions. It may be
-remembered that the most serious obstacle which Columbus subsequently
-encountered lay in the decisions of the Fathers. Now Cadiz had been more
-or less converted before the advent of the Visigoths, but it had not for
-that reason put aside its habits and customs. It continued to be
-essentially maritime; but when the Visigoths came, navigation
-languished, the Ship of Stone no longer turned to the west, it foundered
-in a sea of ignorance which was then undiked, and the possible discovery
-of America was indefinitely postponed. By way of compensation, the
-Visigoths framed a code of laws the spirit of which still survives, and
-which is serviceable in showing that the framers possessed two distinct
-traits, a love of agriculture and a hatred of Jews. Traits which are
-significant when it is understood that it was through agriculture they
-were supported and through the Jews they were overthrown. It was the
-Jews that beckoned the Berbers and their masters the Arabs&mdash;the Moors,
-as those Arabs were called who had deserted the deserts for the African
-Riviera.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THE CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS&mdash;CORDOVA IN THE MIDDLE AGES&mdash;THE GLORIES OF
-AZ ZAHRA&mdash;THE RISE OF ALMANZOR</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was in 712 that Spain, after remaining for nearly three centuries in
-the possession of the Visigoths, fell under the yoke of the Saracens.
-For some time past, from a palace at Tandjah (Tangiers), a Mussulman
-emir had been eyeing the strip of blue water which alone separated him
-from that Andalusia which, like the other parts of this world and all of
-the next, had been promised to the followers of Muhammad. The invasion
-that ensued was singularly pacific. The enthusiasm which distinguished
-the youthful period of Muhammadism might account for the conquest which
-followed, even if we could not assign additional causes&mdash;the factions
-into which the Goths had become divided, the resentment of disappointed
-pretenders to the throne, the provocations of one Count Julian, whose
-daughter, seduced by Roderic, the last of the Gothic kings, caused him,
-it is said, to urge the Moors to come over. It is more surprising that a
-remnant of this ancient monarchy should not only have preserved its
-national liberty and name in the northern mountains, but waged for some
-centuries a successful, and generally an offensive, warfare against the
-conquerors, till the balance was completely turned in its favor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> and the
-Moors were compelled to maintain almost as obstinate and protracted a
-contest for a small portion of the peninsula. But the Arabian monarchs
-of Cordova found in their success and imagined security a pretext for
-indolence; even in the cultivation of science and contemplation of the
-magnificent architecture of their mosques and palaces they forgot their
-poor but daring enemies in the Asturias; while, according to the nature
-of despotism, the fruits of wisdom or bravery in one generation were
-lost in the follies and effeminacy of the next. Their kingdom was
-dismembered by successful rebels, who formed the states of Toledo,
-Huesca, Saragossa, and others less eminent; and these, in their own
-mutual contests, not only relaxed their natural enmity toward the
-Christian princes, but sometimes sought their alliance.</p>
-
-<p>Be that as it may, of all who had entered Spain, whether Greek,
-Phœnician, Vandal or Goth, the Moors were the most tolerant. The worship
-of God was undisturbed. The temples were not only preserved, new ones
-were built. In every town they entered, presto! a mosque and a school,
-and mosques and schools that were entrancing as song. On the banks of
-the Betis, renamed the Great River, Al-Ouad-al-Kebyr (Guadalquivir),
-twelve hundred villages bloomed like roses in June. From three hundred
-thousand filigreed pulpits the glory of Allah, and of Muhammad his
-prophet, was daily proclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>They were superb fellows, these Moors. In earlier ages the restless
-Bedouins, their ancestors, were rather fierce, and when the degenerate
-Sabaism they professed was put aside for the lessons of Muhammad, they
-were not only fierce, they were fanatic as well. A drop of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> blood shed
-for Allah, equaled, they were taught, whole months of fasting and of
-prayer. Thereafter, they preached with the scimiter. But in time, that
-great emollient, they grew less dogmatic. In the ninth century the court
-of Haroûn al Raschid was a free academy in which all the arts were
-cultivated and enjoyed. Under the Moors, Cordova surpassed Bagdad.</p>
-
-<p>In the tenth century it was the most beautiful and most civilized city
-of Europe. Concerning it Burke, in his “History of Spain”&mdash;a work to
-which we are much indebted&mdash;writes as follows:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>There was the Caliph’s Palace of Flowers, his Palace of
-Contentment, his Palace of Lovers, and, most beautiful of all, the
-Palace of Damascus. Rich and poor met in the Mezquita, the noblest
-place of worship then standing in Europe, with its twelve hundred
-marble columns, and its twenty brazen doors; the vast interior
-resplendent with porphyry and jasper and many-colored precious
-stones, the walls glittering with harmonious mosaics, the air
-perfumed with incense, the courtyards leafy with groves of orange
-trees&mdash;showing apples of gold in pictures of silver. Throughout the
-city, there were fountains, basins, baths, with cold water brought
-from the neighboring mountains, already carried in the leaden pipes
-that are the highest triumph of the modern plumber.</p></div>
-
-<p>But more wonderful even than Cordova itself was the suburb and palace of
-Az Zahra. For five-and-twenty years the Caliph Abdur Rahman devoted to
-the building of this royal fancy one-third of the revenues of the
-State;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span> and the work, on his death, was piously continued by his son,
-who devoted the first fifteen years of his reign to its completion. For
-forty years ten thousand workmen are said to have toiled day by day, and
-the record of the refinement as well as the magnificence of the
-structure, as it approached completion, almost passes belief. It is said
-that in a moment of exaltation the Caliph gave orders for the removal of
-the great mountain at whose foot the fairy city was built, as the dark
-shade of the forests that covered its sides overshadowed the gilded
-palace of his creation.</p>
-
-<p>Convinced of the impossibility of his enterprise, An Nasir was content
-that all the oaks and beech trees that grew on the mountain side should
-be rooted up; and that fig trees, and almonds, and pomegranates should
-be planted in their place; and thus the very hills and forests of Az
-Zahra were decked with blossom and beauty.</p>
-
-<p>Travelers from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions, princes,
-embassadors, merchants, pilgrims, theologians and poets, all agreed that
-they had never seen in the course of their travels anything that could
-be compared with Az Zahra, and that no imagination, however fertile,
-could have formed an idea of its beauties. Of this marvelous creation of
-Art and Fancy not one stone remains upon another&mdash;not a vestige to mark
-the spot on which it stood; and it is hard to reconstruct from the dry
-records of Arab historians the fairy edifice of which we are told no
-words could paint the magnificence. According to these authors the
-inclosing wall of the palace was four thousand feet in length from east
-to west, and two thousand two hundred feet from north<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> to south. The
-greater part of this space was occupied by gardens, with their marble
-fountains, kiosks and ornaments of various kinds, not inferior in beauty
-to the more strictly architectural parts of the building.</p>
-
-<p>Four thousand three hundred columns of the rarest and most precious
-marbles supported the roof of the palace; of these some were brought
-from Africa, some from Rome, and many were presented by the Emperor at
-Constantinople to Abdur Rahman. The halls were paved with marble,
-disposed in a thousand varied patterns. The walls were of the same
-material, and ornamented with friezes of the most brilliant colors. The
-ceilings, constructed of cedar, were enriched with gilding on an azure
-ground, with damasked work and interlacing designs. Everything, in
-short, that the wealth and resources of the Caliph could command was
-lavished on this favorite retreat, and all that the art of
-Constantinople and Bagdad could contribute to aid the taste and
-executive skill of the Spanish Arabs was enlisted to make it the most
-perfect work of its age. Did this palace of Zahra now remain to us, says
-Mr. Fergusson, we could afford to despise the Alhambra and all the other
-works of the declining ages of Moorish art.</p>
-
-<p>It was here that Abdur Rahman and Nasir received Sancho the Fat, and
-Theuda, queen of Navarre, the envoys from Charles the Simple of France,
-and the embassadors from the Emperor Constantine at Constantinople. The
-reception of these imperial visitors is said to have been one of the
-most magnificent ceremonies of that magnificent court. The orator who
-had been at first intrusted with the speech of ceremonial greeting was
-act<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span>ually struck dumb by the grandeur of the scene, and his place was
-taken by a less impressionable rhetorician.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was it only material splendor that was to be found at Cordova. At a
-time when Christian Europe was steeped in ignorance and barbarism, in
-superstition and prejudice, every branch of science was studied under
-the favor and protection of the Ommeyad Caliphs. Medicine, surgery,
-botany, chemistry, poetry, the arts, philosophy, literature, all
-flourished at the court and city of Cordova. Agriculture was cultivated
-with a perfection, both theoretical and practical, which is apparent
-from the works of contemporary Arab writers. The Silo, so lately
-introduced into England as a valuable agricultural novelty, is not only
-the invention of the Arabs, but the very name is Arabic, as is that of
-the Azequia and of the Noria of modern Spain. Both the second and the
-third Abdur Rahman were passionately fond of gardening and
-tree-planting; and seeds, roots and cuttings were brought from all parts
-of the world and acclimatized in the gardens at Cordova. A pomegranate
-of peculiar excellence, the Safari, which was introduced by the second
-Abdur Rahman from Damascus, still maintains its superiority, and is
-known in Spain to the present day as the Granada Zafari.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, in small things as in great, the Arabs of Cordova stood
-immeasurably above every other people or any other government in Europe.
-Yet their influence unhappily was but small. They surpassed, but they
-did not lead. The very greatness of their superiority rendered their
-example fruitless. Medieval chivalry, indeed, was largely the result of
-their influence in Spain. But chivalry as an institution had itself
-decayed long before a new-born Europe had at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span>tained to the material and
-moral perfection of the great Emirs of Cordova. Their political
-organization was unadapted to the needs or the aspirations of Western
-Europe, and contained within itself the elements, not of development,
-but of decay. Their civilization perished, and left no heirs behind
-it&mdash;and its place knows it no more.</p>
-
-<p>The reign of Hakam II., the son and successor of the great Caliph, was
-tranquil, prosperous and honorable, the golden age of Arab literature in
-Spain. The king was above all things a student, living the life almost
-of a recluse in his splendid retreat at Az Zahra, and concerning himself
-rather with the collection of books for his celebrated library at
-Cordova than with the cares of State and the excitements of war. He sent
-agents to every city in the East to buy rare manuscripts and bring them
-back to Cordova. When he could not acquire originals he procured copies,
-and every book was carefully catalogued and worthily lodged. Hakam not
-only built libraries, but, unlike many modern collectors, he is said to
-have read and even to have annotated the books that they contained; but
-as their number exceeded four hundred thousand, he must have been a
-remarkably rapid student.</p>
-
-<p>The peaceful disposition of the new Caliph emboldened his Christian
-neighbors and tributaries to disregard the old treaties and to assert
-their independence of Cordova. But the armies of Hakam were able to make
-his rights respected, and the treaties were reaffirmed and observed.
-Many were the embassies that were received at Cordova from rival
-Christian chiefs; and Sancho of Leon, Fernan Gonzalez of Castile, Garcia
-of Navarre, Rodrigo Velasquez<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> of Galicia, and finally Ordoño the Bad,
-Pretender to the crown of Leon, were all represented at the court of Az
-Zahra.</p>
-
-<p>The reign of this royal scholar was peaceful and prosperous; but kingly
-power tends to decline in libraries, and when Hakam ceased to build and
-to annotate, and his kingdom devolved upon his son, the royal authority
-passed not into the hands of the young Hisham, who was only nine years
-of age at the time of his father’s death, but into those of the Sultana
-Sobeyra and of her favorite, Ibn-abu-amir, who is known to later
-generations by the proud title of Almanzor.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
-
-<p>Ibn-abu-amir began his career as a poor student at the University of
-Cordova. Of respectable birth and parentage, filled with noble ambition,
-born for empire and command, the youth became a court scribe, and,
-attracting the attention of the all-powerful Sobeyra by the charm of his
-manner and his nobility of bearing, he soon rose to power and
-distinction in the palace; and as Master of the Mint, and afterward as
-Commander of the City Guard, he found means to render himself
-indispensable, as he had always been agreeable, to the harem. Nor was
-the young courtier less acceptable to the Caliph. Intrusted by him on a
-critical occasion with the supremely difficult mission of comptrolling
-the expenditure of the army in Africa, where the general-in-chief had
-proved over-prodigal or over-rapacious, Ibn-abu-amir acquitted himself
-with such extraordinary skill and tact that he won the respect and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span>
-admiration, not only of the Caliph whose treasury he protected, but of
-the general whose extravagance he checked, and even of the common
-soldiers of the army, who are not usually drawn to a civilian
-superintendent, or to a reforming treasury official from headquarters.
-The expenses were curtailed; but the campaign was successful, and the
-victorious general and the yet more victorious Cadi shared on equal
-terms the honor of a triumphal entry into the capital.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Hakam, in September, 976, Ibn-abu-amir showed no less
-than his usual tact and vigor in suppressing a palace intrigue and
-placing the young Hisham on the throne of his father. The Caliph was but
-twelve years of age, and his powerful guardian, supported by the harem,
-beloved by the people, and feared by the vanquished conspirators, took
-upon himself the entire administration of the kingdom, repealed some
-obnoxious taxes, reformed the organization of the army, and sought to
-confirm and establish his power by a war against his neighbors in the
-north. The peace which had so long prevailed between Moor and Christian
-was thus rudely broken, and the Moslem once more carried his arms across
-the northern frontier. The campaign was eminently successful.
-Ibn-abu-amir, who contrived not only to vanquish his enemies but to
-please his friends, became at once the master of the palace and of the
-army. The inevitable critic was found to say that the victor was a
-diplomatist and a lawyer rather than a great general; but he was
-certainly a great leader of men, and if he was at any time unskilled in
-the conduct of a battle, he owned from the first that higher skill of
-knowing whom to trust with command. Nor was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span> he less remarkable for his
-true military virtue of constant clemency to the vanquished.</p>
-
-<p>In two years after the death of Hakam, Almanzor had attained the
-position of the greatest of the <i>maires du palais</i> of early France, and
-he ruled all Muhammadan Spain in the name of young Hisham, whose throne
-he forbore to occupy and whose person was safe in his custody. But if
-Almanzor was not a dilettante like Abdur Rahman II., nor a collector of
-MSS. like Hakam, he was no vulgar fighter like the early kings of Leon
-or of Navarre. A library of books accompanied him in all his campaigns;
-literature, science, and the arts were munificently patronized at court;
-a university or high school was established at Cordova, where the great
-mosque was enlarged for the accommodation of an increasing number of
-worshipers. Yet in one thing did he show his weakness. He could afford
-to have no enemies.</p>
-
-<p>Though the idol of the army, the lover of the queen, the prefect of the
-city, the guardian of the person of the Caliph, Almanzor yet found it
-necessary to conciliate the theologians; and the theologians were only
-conciliated by the delivery of the great library of Hakam into the hands
-of the Ulema. The shelves were ransacked for works on astrology and
-magic, on natural philosophy, and the forbidden sciences, and after an
-inquisition as formal and as thorough and probably no more intelligent
-than that which was conducted by the curate and the barber in the house
-of Don Quixote, tens of thousands of priceless volumes were publicly
-committed to the flames.</p>
-
-<p>Nor did Almanzor neglect the more practical or more direct means of
-maintaining his power. The army was
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span>filled with bold recruits from Africa, and renegades from the Christian
-provinces of the north. The organization and equipment of the regiments
-was constantly improved; and the troops were ever loyal to their
-civilian benefactor. Ghalib, the Commander-in-chief, having sought to
-overthrow the supreme administrator of the kingdom, was vanquished and
-slain in battle (981). The Caliph was practically a prisoner in his own
-palace, and was encouraged by his guardian and his friends, both in the
-harem and in the mosque, to devote himself entirely to a religious life,
-and abandon the administration of his kingdom to the Hájib, who now,
-feeling himself entirely secure at home, turned his arms once more
-against the Christians on the northern frontiers; and it was on his
-return to Cordova, after his greeted with the well-known title of
-Almanzor.</p>
-
-<p>In 984 he compelled Bermudo II. of Leon to become his tributary. In 985
-he turned his attention to Catalonia, and after a brief but brilliant
-campaign he made himself master of Barcelona. Two years later (987),
-Bermudo having dismissed his Moslem guards and thrown off his allegiance
-to Cordova, Almanzor marched into the northwest, and after sacking
-Coimbra, overran Leon, entirely destroyed the capital city, and
-compelled the Christian king to take refuge in the wild fastnesses of
-the Asturias.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, at Cordova, the power of Almanzor became year by year more
-complete. Victorious in Africa as well as in Spain, this heaven-born
-general was as skillful in the council chamber as be was in the field.
-The iron hand was ever clad in a silken glove. His ambition was content
-with the substance of power, and with the gradual assumption</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><br /><a name="map" id="map"></a>
-<a href="images/map.jpg">
-<img src="images/map.jpg" width="550" alt="[Image unavailble.]" /></a><br />
-<span class="nonvis">
-[<a href="images/map.jpg">View larger size map.</a>]<br />
-[<a href="images/map_lg.jpg">View largest size map.</a>]
-</span>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">of any external show of supreme authority in the State. In 991 he
-abandoned the office and title of Hajib to his son, Abdul Malik. In 992
-his seal took the place of that of the monarch on all documents of
-State. In 993 he assumed the royal cognomen of Mowayad. Two years later
-he arrogated to himself alone the title of Said; and in 996 he ventured
-a step further, and assumed the title of Malik Karim, or king.</p>
-
-<p>But in 996 Almanzor was at length confronted by a rival. Sobeyra, the
-Navarrese Sultana, once his mistress, was now his deadly enemy, and she
-had determined that the queen, and not the minister, should reign
-supreme in the palace. Almanzor was to be destroyed. Hakam, a feeble and
-effeminate youth, was easily won over by the harem, who urged him to
-show the strength that he was so far from possessing, by espousing the
-cause of his mother against his guardian. The queen was assured of
-victory. The treasury was at the disposal of the conspirators. A
-military rival was secretly summoned from Africa. The minister was
-banished from the royal presence. The palace was already jubilant.</p>
-
-<p>But the palace reckoned without Almanzor. Making his way into Hakam’s
-chamber, more charming, more persuasive, more resolute than ever,
-Almanzor prevailed upon the Caliph not only to restore him to his
-confidence, but to empower him, by a solemn instrument under the royal
-sign-manual, to assume the government of the kingdom. Sobeyra, defeated
-but unharmed by her victorious and generous rival, retired to a
-cloister; and Almanzor, contemptuously leaving to one of his lieutenants
-the task of vanquishing his subsidized rival in Africa, set forth upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span>
-the most memorable of all his many expeditions against Christian Spain
-(July 3, 997).</p>
-
-<p>Making his way, at the head of an army, through Lusitania into far away
-Galicia, he took Corunna, and destroyed the great Christian church and
-city of Santiago de Compostella, the most sacred spot in all Spain, and
-sent the famous bells which had called so many Christian pilgrims to
-prayer and praise to be converted into lamps to illuminate the Moslem
-worshipers in the mosque at Cordova.</p>
-
-<p>Five years later, in 1002, after an uncertain battle, Almanzor died in
-harness, if not actually in the ranks, bowed down by mortal disease,
-unhurt by the arm of the enemy. The relief of the Christians at his
-death was unspeakable; and is well expressed, says Mr. Poole, in the
-simple comment of the Monkish annalist, “In 1002 died Almanzor, and was
-buried in Hell.”</p>
-
-<p>In force of character, in power of persuasion, in tact, in vigor, in
-that capacity for command that is only found in noble natures, Almanzor
-has no rival among the Regents of Spain. His rise is a romance; his
-power a marvel; his justice a proverb. He was a brilliant financier; a
-successful favorite; a liberal patron; a stern disciplinarian; a
-heaven-born courtier; an accomplished general; and no one of the great
-commanders of Spain, not Gonsalvo de Aguilar himself, was more uniformly
-successful in the field than this lawyer’s clerk of Cordova.</p>
-
-<p>Hisham, in confinement at Az Zahra, was still the titular Caliph of the
-West, but Almanzor was succeeded as commander-in-chief and virtual ruler
-of the country by his favorite son, his companion-in-arms, and the hero
-of an African campaign, Abdul Malik Almudaffar, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> Hajib of 991. But
-the glory of Cordova had departed. Abdul Malik indeed ruled in his
-father’s place for six years. But on his death, in 1008, he was
-succeeded by his half-brother, Abdur Rahman, who, as the son of a
-Christian princess, was mistrusted both by the palace and by the people;
-and the country became a prey to anarchy.</p>
-
-<p>Cordova was sacked. The Caliph was imprisoned; rebellions, poisonings,
-crucifixions, civil war, bigotry and skepticism, the insolence of
-wealth, the insolence of power, a Mahdi and a Wahdi, Christian alliance,
-Berber domination, Slav mutineers, African interference, puppet princes,
-all these things vexed the Spanish Moslems for thirty disastrous years;
-while a number of weak but independent sovereignties arose on the ruins
-of the great Caliphate of the West.</p>
-
-<p>The confused annals of the last thirty years of the rule of the
-Ommeyades are mere records of blood and of shame, a pitiful story of
-departed greatness.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Hisham II., the Romulus Augustulus of Imperial Cordova,
-Moslem Spain was divided into a number of petty kingdoms, Malaga,
-Algeciras, Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Badajoz, Saragossa, the Balearic
-Islands, Valencia, Murcia, Almeria, and Granada. And each of these
-cities and kingdoms made unceasing war one upon another.</p>
-
-<p>From the death of Hisham, if not from the death of Almanzor, the centre
-of interest in the history of Spain is shifted from Cordova to Castile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">MEDIEVAL SPAIN</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE FOUNDERS OF MODERN SPAIN&mdash;THE KINGDOMS OF THE ASTURIAS AND OF
-LEON&mdash;THE DEFEAT AT RONCESVALLES&mdash;THE CID CAMPEADOR</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Crescent had conquered, but the Cross endured. The refuge of the
-latter was in the Asturias, There&mdash;eight or ten years after the death of
-the last of the Gothic kings&mdash;Pelayo, one of the early heroes of Spanish
-history, was reigning over refugees from Moslem rule. It was these
-refugees who laid the foundation of modern Spain, and it is related that
-in their fastness at Covadonga, thirty of them, with Pelayo at their
-head, actually routed, if they did not destroy, an entire army of four
-hundred thousand Moslem besiegers.</p>
-
-<p>The story is of course mythological, but the good fortune of Pelayo did
-much to kindle the national spirit by which ultimately Spain was
-conquered for the Spaniards, and thus the story, if critically false,
-becomes metaphorically true.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Nor [says Burke] do the Arabs seem to have made any attempt to retrieve
-or avenge the fortunes of the day. Well satisfied, no doubt, with their
-unopposed dominion over the rich plains of the genial south country,
-they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> willing to abandon the bleak and inhospitable mountains to
-their wild inhabitants and the emboldened refugees whom they sheltered.
-Be the reason what it may, Pelayo seems to have had peace all the days
-of his life after his victory at Covadonga in 718. Prudently confining
-his attention to the development of his little kingdom, he reigned, it
-is said, for nineteen years at Cangas, and, dying in 737, was peacefully
-succeeded by his son Favila.</p>
-
-<p>Pelayo, no doubt, was but a robber chieftain, a petty mountain prince,
-and the legends of his royal descent are of later date, and of obviously
-spurious manufacture; but Pelayo needs no tinsel to adorn his crown. He
-was the founder of the Spanish monarchy.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, in the recesses of the Pyrenees, a second Christian kingdom,
-that of Navarre, had been founded by Garcias Iniguez, which, together
-with Catalonia and Aragon, Charlemagne a little later (778) entered and
-subdued. In repassing the Pyrenees, however, the Navarrese, led by
-Fortun Garcias, fell upon the Frankish troops and cut to pieces the
-rearguard, and even, it is said, the main body of the army.</p>
-
-<p>How far the Spanish Christians were aided, as it has been stated they
-were, by the Moors, it is impossible to discover. The fact of such an
-alliance, in itself sufficiently improbable, is quite unnecessary to
-explain the ever-famous defeat at Roncesvalles.</p>
-
-<p>Nor can we speak with much greater confidence of the prowess or even of
-the existence of the equally famous Roland, in the ranks of the invading
-or evading army; or of that of the no less celebrated Bernardo del
-Carpio in the ranks of the pursuers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Taillefer, who sang the song of Roland upon the battlefield of Hastings,
-and Terouldes, whose thirteenth century epic suggested the poems of
-Pulci, of Boiardo, and of greatest Ariosto, all these have made Roland
-one of the favorite heroes of the Middle Ages. But in the story, as it
-is told in the Spanish ballads, it is Bernardo del Carpio, the nephew of
-the chaste but pusillanimous Alfonso, who is the true hero of
-Roncesvalles, and who not only repulsed the host of Charlemagne, but
-caught up the invulnerable Roland in his arms, and squeezed him to death
-before his army. No carpet knight or courtier was Bernardo, but a true
-Cantabrian mountaineer.</p>
-
-<p>In 790 Alfonso II., the great-grandson of the great Pelayo, then king of
-Oviedo, repulsed the Mussulman army with great slaughter, and abolished
-the ignominious tribute of one hundred virgins, an annual tribute paid
-to the Muhammadan ruler, fifty virgins being of noble and fifty of base
-or ignoble birth. From this circumstance is derived, by some historians,
-his surname of the Chaste; attributed by others to his having made a
-solemn vow of virginity, and observed it, even in marriage. This vow,
-and the austere temper in which it probably originated, had considerable
-influence over Alfonso’s life. He so deeply resented his sister Ximena’s
-private marriage with a subject, the Count of Saldanha, that he shut her
-up in a convent; and putting out her husband’s eyes, sentenced him to
-perpetual imprisonment.</p>
-
-<p>The royal line of Navarre or Sobrarve was at this time extinct, Ximenes
-Garcias, the grandson of Fortun Garcias, having died without children.
-The nobles availed themselves of the opportunity to establish the famous
-code en<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span>titled “Los Fueros de Sobrarve”&mdash;the laws of Sobrarve&mdash;which
-subsequently became the groundwork of the liberties of Aragon. Navarre
-was soon afterward recovered by the Moors, and Sobrarve included in the
-Spanish March.</p>
-
-<p>Alfonso ruled upward of fifty years. Incessant wars now followed between
-the followers of the Cross and the Crescent, and a frenzy for martyrdom
-on the part of the Christians had to be repressed by a Christian
-archbishop at the solemn request of the Cadis.</p>
-
-<p>Garcia of Oviedo died without children shortly after his accession; when
-his brother Ordoño II. reunited the whole of his father’s dominions. He
-transferred the seat of government to Leon, and altered the title of
-King of Oviedo into that of King of Leon.</p>
-
-<p>This Ordoño abandoned the peaceful policy of his greater father, and
-undertook many expeditions with varying and uncertain success against
-the Arabs. He plundered Merida in 917, and routed the Berbers in
-Southern Spain in 918. Yet three years later, at Val de Junqueras (921),
-near Pamplona, the Christians suffered disastrous defeat. The usual
-rebellion at home was appeased by the treacherous execution or murder of
-no less than four counts of Castile in 922, and was followed by the
-king’s death in 923.</p>
-
-<p>Of Fruela II. (923-925), Alfonso IV. (925-930), and Ramiro II.
-(930-950), little need be said, but that they lived and reigned as kings
-of Leon.</p>
-
-<p>To Ramiro, however, is due, at least, the honor of an authentic victory
-over the Moslem forces of the great Caliph, Abdur Rahman an Nasir (939),
-at Simancas, and afterward in the same year at Alhandega.</p>
-
-<p>Ramiro, after the usual rebellion, abdicated, in 950,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> in favor of his
-son Ordoño&mdash;who had married Urraca, daughter of the principal rebel of
-the day, Fernan Gonzalez, count of Castile&mdash;and who succeeded his father
-as Ordoño III.</p>
-
-<p>But decapitation was a far more certain way of suppressing rebellion
-than matrimony; and Fernan Gonzalez lived to intrigue against his
-daughter and her royal husband in favor of Sancho, a younger brother of
-the king. Ordoño, however, held his own against his brother, and
-revenged himself on his father-in-law, by repudiating his wife; who,
-with her personal and family grievances, was promptly <i>acquired</i> by
-Sancho, who succeeded, on his brother’s death, to the crown of which he
-had failed to possess himself by force. But even as a legitimate
-sovereign, Sancho, surnamed the Fat, was not allowed to reign in peace.
-He was driven from his kingdom by that most versatile rebel, Count
-Fernan Gonzalez, and sought refuge at the court of his uncle Garcia of
-Navarre at Pamplona. Thence, in company with Garcia, and his mother
-Theuda, he journeyed to the court of the Caliph at Cordova, where the
-distinguished visitors were received with great show of welcome by Abdur
-Rahman at Az Zahra; and where Hasdai, the Jew, the most celebrated
-physician of the day, succeeded in completely curing Sancho of the
-distressing malady&mdash;a morbid and painful corpulency&mdash;which incapacitated
-him from the active discharge of his royal duties.</p>
-
-<p>The study and practice of medicine were alike disregarded by the rude
-dwellers in Leon; but the Cordovan doctor, surpassing in his success, if
-not in his skill, the most celebrated physicians of the present day,
-contrived to reduce the king’s overgrown bulk to normal proportions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span>
-and restored him to his former activity and vigor, both of body and
-mind. Nor was the skill of Hasdai confined to the practice of medicine.
-An accomplished diplomatist, he negotiated a treaty with his Christian
-patient, by which Sancho bound himself to give up ten frontier
-fortresses to the Caliph, on his restoration to the crown of Leon, while
-Don Garcia and Dona Theuda undertook to invade Castile in order to
-divert the attention of the common foe, the ever-ready Fernan Gonzalez.</p>
-
-<p>In due time Sancho, no longer the fat, but the hale, returned to Leon at
-the head of a Moslem army, placed at his disposal by his noble host at
-Cordova, drove out the usurper, Ordoño the Bad, and reigned in peace in
-his Christian dominions. The visit of this dispossessed Ordoño to the
-court of the Caliph Hakam at Cordova, in 962, is an interesting specimen
-of the international politics or policy of his age and country.</p>
-
-<p>As Sancho had recovered his throne, by the aid of Abdur Rahman, so
-Ordoño sought to dethrone him and make good his own pretensions by the
-aid of Hakam. The Caliph, already harassed by Fernan Gonzalez, and
-doubting the honesty of King Sancho, was not ill-pleased to have another
-pretender in hand, and Ordoño was invited to Cordova, and received by
-Hakam in the palace at Az Zahra with the utmost pomp and display. The
-Leonese prince craved in humble language the assistance of the Moslem,
-and professed himself his devoted friend, ally, and vassal; and he was
-permitted to remain at the Court of Hakam, to await the issue of events
-in the north. Some few days afterward a treaty was solemnly signed
-between the Caliph and the Pretender, and once<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> more the glories of Az
-Zahra were displayed to the eyes of the astonished barbarian from Leon.</p>
-
-<p>Nor did the fame of these splendid ceremonies fail to reach Sancho in
-the northwest; and his spirit of independence was considerably cooled by
-the prospect of a Moslem army, headed by his cousin Ordoño, making its
-appearance before his ill-defended frontiers. The maneuver was
-sufficiently familiar; and the reigning monarch lost no time in
-disassociating himself from the hostile proceedings of Fernan Gonzalez;
-and sending an important embassy to Hakam at Cordova, to assure him of
-his unwavering loyalty, he hastened to announce his readiness to carry
-out to the letter all the provisions of his recent treaty with the
-Caliph. Hakam was satisfied. Ordoño languished disregarded at Cordova,
-despised alike by Moslem and Christian, but unharmed and in safety as
-the guest of the Arab. Sancho reigned in peace until 967, when he was
-poisoned by the rebel count of the day, Sanchez of Galicia. His son, who
-was known as Ramiro III., an unwise and incapable monarch, reigned at
-Leon from 967 to 982, without extending the possessions or the influence
-of the Christians in Spain; and Bermudo II., who usurped the throne, was
-no match for the fiery Almanzor, who ravaged his kingdom, took
-possession of his capital, and compelled the Christian Court to take
-refuge in the wild mountains of the Asturias, and once more to pay
-tribute to the Moslem at Cordova.</p>
-
-<p>Bermudo died in 999; and on the death of Almanzor, three years later,
-the Christian fortunes under the young Alfonso V., who had succeeded his
-father Bermudo, at the age of only five, began to mend. Cordova was
-given<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> up to anarchy. The Moslem troops retired from Northern Spain.
-Leon became once more the abode of the king and his court, and though
-Alfonso gave his sister in marriage to Mohammed, an Emir or Vali of
-Toledo, he extended his Christian dominion in more than one foray
-against the declining power of the Moslem.</p>
-
-<p>Alfonso V., who is known in Spanish history as the Restorer of Leon,
-sought to consolidate his own power, as he certainly exalted that of his
-clergy, by the summoning of a Council, after the manner of the
-Visigothic Councils of Toledo. The Council met at the city of Leon on
-the 1st of August, 1020, in the Cathedral Church of St. Mary. The king
-and his queen Elvira presided, and all the bishops and the principal
-abbots and nobles of the kingdom took their seats in the assembly. And
-if there was no Leander, nor Isidore, nor Julian to impose his will upon
-king or council, the interests of the Church were not entirely
-overlooked. Of the fifty-eight decrees and canons of this Council, the
-first seventeen relate exclusively to matters ecclesiastical, the next
-twenty are laws for the government of the kingdom, the remaining
-thirty-one are municipal ordinances for the city of Leon.</p>
-
-<p>But Alfonso V. was not exempted from the usual rebellions, and
-marriages, and assassinations, and executions, which constituted the
-politics of the day. Garcia, the last Count of Castile, was
-treacherously slain in 1026; and Alfonso was himself more honorably
-killed in an attack upon a Moslem town in Lusitania in 1027.</p>
-
-<p>The life of Fernan Gonzalez, the Warwick of medieval Spain, is almost as
-much overlaid with romantic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> legends as that of Roderic or Roland. The
-lives and deeds of his ancestors, and the origin of his ever-celebrated
-County of Castile, are involved in the utmost confusion and obscurity;
-but Fernan Gonzalez himself is at least a historical personage. He
-married Sancha, daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre, and their son,
-Garcia Fernandez, succeeded him as hereditary Count of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>As early as the year 905, Sancho, a Christian chief of whose ancestors
-and predecessors much has been written, much surmised, and nothing is
-certainly known, was king or ruler of the little border state of
-Navarre. A prudent as well as a warlike sovereign, he fortified his
-capital city of Pamplona, and when his son, in alliance with Ordoño II.
-of Leon, was defeated by the Moslems at Val de Junquera, the Navarrese
-not only made good their retreat to that celebrated fortress, but
-succeeded in course of a short time in driving the Moslems out of their
-country. The grandson of this successful general was Sancho El Mayor&mdash;or
-the Great&mdash;the most powerful of the Christian princes in Spain
-(970-1035). Besides Navarre and Sobrarve he held the lordship of Aragon;
-in 1026, in right of his wife, Muña Elvira, he became king or count of
-Castile; while his successful interference in the affairs of Leon made
-him virtual master of all Christian Spain outside the limits of the
-quasi Frankish county of Catalonia.</p>
-
-<p>Sancho the Great died in 1035, when his territories were divided,
-according to his will, among his four sons; and from this time forth the
-history of Navarre, so far as it is not included in the history of
-Aragon, of Castile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> and of France, is a confused and dreary record of
-family quarrels, of plots and assassinations, of uncertain alliances, of
-broken treaties. The marriage of the Princess Berengaria with Richard I.
-of England, in 1191, failed to secure for Sancho V. the influence that
-he had hoped to secure: and with Sancho VI., who died in 1234, the male
-line of the house of Sancho Iniguez or Inigo, the founder of Navarre,
-was extinct. A French prince was chosen by the Navarrese to rule over
-them. And from the death of Sancho VI., in 1234, to the death of Charles
-the Bad, in 1387&mdash;one hundred and fifty years&mdash;the history of Navarre is
-that of France.</p>
-
-<p>Bermudo III., who succeeded, on the death of his father, Alfonso V., in
-1027, as king of Leon, was at once attacked by his powerful neighbors,
-and the little States were distracted by family quarrels and civil war
-until the death of Bermudo in battle, in 1037, when the male line of the
-house of Leon became extinct.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Bermudo III. in 1037, Ferdinand I., king of Castile, the
-second son of Sancho the Great, succeeded to the kingdom of Leon, and
-became, after over twenty years of civil war (1058), the most powerful
-monarch in all Spain. The Moslems offered but an uncertain and
-half-hearted resistance to his arms. For while the Christians were
-growing strong, the Moslem empire was already declining to its fall. And
-the decay of the Caliphate of Cordova, and the internal dissensions of
-the Arabs, enabled Ferdinand not only to recover all the territory that
-had been conquered by Almanzor, but to pursue the disheartened Moslem as
-far as Valencia, Toledo, and Coimbra. Ferdinand confirmed the Fueros of
-Al<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span>fonso V., and summoned a council at Coyanza (Valencia de Don Juan),
-over which, with his Queen Sancha, he presided in 1050. All the bishops
-and abbots, together with a certain number of lay nobles thus assembled
-<i>ad restaurationem nostræ Christianitatis</i>, proceeded to make decrees or
-canons, after the manner of the Councils of Toledo, of which the first
-seven were devoted to matters ecclesiastical, and the remainder
-connected with the civil government of the country. With territories
-thus recovered and augmented, with cities restored and fortified,
-Ferdinand determined to excel all his Christian predecessors, and to
-emulate the noble example of the Arab, by enriching his dominion, not
-with treasures of art or literature, with schools, with palaces, with
-manuscripts&mdash;but with the bones of as many martyrs as he could collect.</p>
-
-<p>An army was raised for this sacred purpose, and the country of the Moors
-was once more invaded and harried by the Christian arms. Ibn Obeid of
-Seville, learning the objects of the invasion, offered Ferdinand every
-facility for research in his city; and a solemn commission of bishops
-and nobles were admitted within the walls to seek the body of Justus,
-one of the martyrs of Diocletian. But in spite of all the diligence of
-the Christians, and all the goodwill of the Arabs, the sacred remains
-could nowhere be found. At length the spirit of Saint Isidore removed
-the difficulty by appearing miraculously before the Commission, and
-offering his own bones in the place of those of Justus, which were
-destined, said he, to remain untouched at Seville. The Commission was
-satisfied. And the body of the great Metropolitan, “fra<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span>grant with
-balsamic odors,” was immediately removed to the Church of St. John the
-Baptist at Leon&mdash;to the great satisfaction of both Christians and Moors,
-in 1063.</p>
-
-<p>It was on the occasion of the return of these blessed relics to the
-Christian capital that Ferdinand proclaimed the future division of his
-kingdom. For after all the success that had attended the Union of the
-dominions of Leon and Castile under the sole authority of Ferdinand, who
-rather perhaps for his sanctity than for his wisdom had earned the title
-of the Great, the king made the same grievous mistake that his father
-had done before him, in dividing his united territories at his death
-(1065) among his sons and daughters. To Sancho, the eldest son, he left
-the kingdom of Castile; to Alfonso, Leon and the Asturias; to Garcia,
-Galicia; to his younger daughter, Elvira, the town and district of Toro,
-and to her elder sister Urraca the famous border city of Zamora, the
-most debatable land in all Spain, and a strange heritage for a young
-lady. Thus Castile and Leon were once more separated; and the usual
-civil wars and family intrigues naturally followed. Alfonso, though not
-at first the most successful, survived all his rivals, and was at length
-proclaimed king of Leon and Castile.</p>
-
-<p>But the successes and glories of Alfonso VI., such as they were, are
-overshadowed by the prowess of a Castilian hero, whose exploits form one
-of the most favorite chapters in the national history of Spain&mdash;the
-Christian knight with the Moslem title&mdash;Ruy Diaz, <span class="smcap">The Cid</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Two years before William of Normandy landed at Hastings, a Castilian
-knight, a youth who had already won for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span> himself the proud title of The
-Challenger, from his reckless bravery and his success in single combat,
-is found leading the royal armies of Sancho of Castile against the
-enemy. The knight was Ruy Diaz de Bivar. The enemy was Alfonso VI. of
-Leon, the brother of Sancho, who was endeavoring to reunite the
-inheritance divided by his father, in the good old medieval fashion in
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Of noble birth and parentage, a Castilian of the Castilians, Roderic or
-Ruy Diaz was born at Bivar, near Burgos, about the year 1040. His
-position in the army of Sancho was that of Alferez, in title the
-Standard-bearer, in effect the major-general or second in command, if
-not commander-in-chief of the king’s army.</p>
-
-<p>For seven years Alfonso of Leon and Sancho of Castile had been at war,
-each seeking to destroy the other; and at length at Golpejara, near
-Carrion, on the eve of what promised to be a decisive battle, a solemn
-engagement was entered into by the brothers that whichever of the two
-was worsted in the encounter should resign his kingdom to the other
-without further bloodshed. The Castilians, in spite of Sancho and his
-famous Champion, were defeated at Golpejara; and Alfonso of Leon,
-foolishly trusting his brother’s word, took no heed to improve his
-victory, and his unsuspecting army was overwhelmed the next day by the
-Castilian troops under Ruy Diaz de Bivar, the author of this exceedingly
-characteristic, if not entirely authentic piece of treachery.</p>
-
-<p>It is scarcely surprising that the Cid was not trusted by Alfonso of
-Leon, when he, in his turn, succeeded to the crown of Castile. But for
-the moment Alfonso was not only deprived of his throne and of his
-liberty by his more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> successful brother, but he was compelled to
-purchase his life by a promise to enter the monastery of Sahagun.
-Disregarding this vow, and making good his escape to Toledo, the royal
-refugee was received with the usual hospitality of the Arab by El Mamun,
-the Moslem ruler of the city, who sheltered and entertained him, as he
-himself admitted, “like a son.”</p>
-
-<p>Sancho meanwhile had turned his arms against his brother Garcia, whom he
-dispossessed of his territories; against his sister Elvira, who met with
-a similar fate, and, lastly, against his sister Urraca, who withstood
-him boldly in her city of Zamora. And not only did this time-honored
-fortress resist the attack of Sancho and his wily major-general, but the
-king was slain outside the walls of the city by one of his sister’s
-knights. Alfonso thus not only recovered his own kingdom of Leon, but,
-swearing perpetual friendship with El Mamun of Toledo, he was elected
-king of Castile by the Commons assembled at Burgos; and the defeated
-refugee of 1071 found himself, in less than two years, the greatest
-prince in Christian Spain; Alfonso the Sixth of Leon and of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>Yet the legend runs that Alfonso was compelled to undergo the indignity
-of a public examination, and a triple oath before the knights and nobles
-assembled at Burgos, to the effect that he had had no share in the
-murder of King Sancho; and the oath was administered by Ruy Diaz of
-Bivar, the companion in arms of the Castilian king, sometime the
-faithless enemy of Carrion, but now the acknowledged leader of the
-Castilian nobility.</p>
-
-<p>Alfonso of Leon may have forgiven the treachery in the field, but he
-never forgot the insult in the Council. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span> restrained his indignation,
-however, and was even induced by reasons of State to grant to the bold
-Castilian lord the hand of his cousin Ximena in marriage, and to intrust
-him with the command of an expedition into Andalusia. But the royal
-favor was of brief duration; and in 1081 we find that Roderic, partly
-owing to the intrigues of Garcia Ordonez, and partly to the enduring
-enmity of the king, was banished from the Christian dominions.</p>
-
-<p>Of all the petty sovereignties that came into existence on the breaking
-up of the Ommeyad Caliphate of Cordova, that of Moctadir, the chief of
-the Ben-i-hud of Saragossa, was the most powerful in Northern or Central
-Spain; and at the Moslem court of Saragossa, Ruy Diaz, with his fame and
-his followers, was warmly welcomed (1081) by Moctadir as a Said or
-Cid&mdash;a lord or leader of the Arabs. He had been driven out of Castile by
-Alfonso. He found a home and honorable command at Saragossa. So long as
-he could make war upon his neighbors, all countries were alike to
-Roderic of Bivar. Nor was it long before his prowess brought honor and
-profit to Moctadir, or, rather, to his son and successor, Motamin.</p>
-
-<p>Ramon Berenguer III., count of Barcelona, was engaged, like other
-Christian princes of his time, in chronic warfare with his Moslem
-neighbors; and Motamin, with his Castilian Cid, marching against the
-Catalans, defeated the Christians with great slaughter at Almenara, near
-Lerida, and brought Ramon Berenguer a prisoner to Saragossa (1081),
-where the victorious Cid was loaded with presents by the grateful
-Motamin, and invested with an authority in the kingdom subordinate only
-to that of the king himself. Two years later (1083) an expedition was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span>
-undertaken by the Moslems, under Roderic, against their Christian
-neighbors in Aragon. King Sancho Ramirez was completely defeated by the
-Castilian champion, who returned once more to Saragossa loaded with
-booty and renown. In 1084 the Cid seems to have paid a friendly visit to
-the court of Alfonso VI. But although he was apparently well received,
-he suspected treachery, and, returning to the court of the Moslem, once
-more took service under the delighted Motamin. His next campaign,
-undertaken in the following year, was not against any Christian power,
-but against the hostile Moslems of northern Valencia, and was crowned
-with the usual success. Motamin died in 1085, but the Cid remained in
-the service of his son and successor, Mostain, fighting against
-Christian and Moslem as occasion offered, partly for the King of
-Saragossa, but chiefly for the personal advantage of Ruy Diaz of Bivar.
-A stranger national hero it is hard to imagine! Nor were his subsequent
-proceedings in any degree less strange.</p>
-
-<p>Al Mamun, the host and protector of Alfonso VI., had died in 1075,
-leaving, his grandson, Cadir, to succeed him as sovereign of Toledo.
-Abdulaziz, the viceroy of the subject city of Valencia, took advantage
-of the weakness of the young prince to declare himself independent, and
-placing himself under the protection of the Christians, undertook to pay
-a large subsidy to Alfonso VI. in return for his recognition and
-support. The subsidy was punctually paid, and, in spite of a present of
-no less than a hundred thousand pieces of gold handed over by Moctadir
-of Saragossa to Alfonso as the price of Valencia, Abdulaziz retained his
-hold of the city until his death in 1085. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> this, numerous pretenders
-to the government immediately arose, including Moctadir of Saragossa, a
-purchaser for value, and the two sons of Abdulaziz; while Alfonso took
-advantage of the confusion that ensued to persuade Cadir to surrender
-Toledo, much coveted by the Christian king, and to accept, or, more
-exactly, to retain, for himself the sovereignty of Valencia, under the
-humiliating protection of Castile. Alfonso cared nothing that Toledo was
-the inheritance of his youthful ally, the home of his old protector,
-when he himself was a hunted refugee. He cared nothing that the
-Valencians were hostile to Cadir, and that powerful neighbors were
-prepared to dispute his possession. He cared nothing that Moctadir, who
-had actually purchased the city from Alfonso himself, was on the way to
-make good his claim. A treaty was forced upon Cadir by which Toledo was
-surrendered to Alfonso VI. (1085), and the Christian king was bound to
-place and maintain the unhappy prince in possession of his own
-subordinate city of Valencia.</p>
-
-<p>Toledo thus became the capital of Christian Spain; and the evicted
-sovereign, escorted by a large force of Castilian troops under Alvar
-Fanez, made his sad and solemn entry into Valencia, despised at once by
-the citizens of Toledo, whom he had abandoned to the Christian
-sovereign, and by the citizens of Valencia, where his power was
-maintained by Christian lances. And costly indeed was this Christian
-maintenance. Six hundred pieces of gold is said to have been the daily
-allowance of the army of Castilian mercenaries; and the taxes that were
-necessitated by their presence only added to the unpopularity of the
-government. Many of Cadir’s Moslem subjects fled from the city; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span>
-their place was taken by his Christian supporters or pensioners, whose
-rapacity was, if possible, exceeded by their cruelty. But the coming of
-the Almoravides gave a new turn to the fortunes of the city. Alvar Fanez
-and his knights were recalled by Alfonso, and after the defeat of the
-Christians at Zalaca, in October, 1086, Cadir found himself threatened
-with immediate expulsion by his own citizens, supported by Mondhir of
-Lerida, the uncle of Mostain of Saragossa. In this difficulty he once
-more sought the protection of Christian lances, and applied for aid to
-the Cid, who immediately advanced on Valencia.</p>
-
-<p>An intriguer, at all times and places, Roderic promised his support to
-Cadir in return for admission within the walls. He entered into a formal
-treaty with Mostain that the city should be his, if all the booty were
-handed over to the Campeador; and he sent envoys to Alfonso to assure
-him that in all these forays and alliances he thought only of the
-advantage of Christendom and the honor of Castile. Mondhir, overawed by
-the appearance of the allied army from Saragossa, hastily retired from
-before Valencia, where Mostain and his Christian Said were welcomed as
-deliverers by Cadir.</p>
-
-<p>But although the Cid imposed a tribute upon the unhappy Valencians, he
-failed to give over the city to Mostain, and assuring Cadir of his
-constant support, as long as a monthly allowance of ten thousand golden
-dinars was punctually paid, he withdrew himself from the remonstrances
-of the disappointed Mostain&mdash;to whom he continued to protest his
-continued devotion&mdash;on the plea of a necessary visit to his Christian
-sovereign in Castile, to explain or excuse his position, and to engage
-some Cas<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span>tilian troops for his army. Mostain, during his absence,
-perceiving that he could not count upon so versatile and so ambitious a
-Said in the matter of the handing over of Valencia, entered into an
-alliance with his old enemy, Ramon Berenguer, of Barcelona; and the
-Catalans had actually laid siege to the city when the return of the Cid
-induced them to abandon their trenches and retire to Barcelona.</p>
-
-<p>If the Cid was a hero of romance, he did not wield his sword without the
-most magnificent remuneration. At this period of his career (1089-92),
-in addition to the eighty thousand golden pieces received from Ramon
-Berenguer, he is said to have drawn fifty thousand from the son of
-Mondhir, one hundred and twenty thousand from Cadir of Valencia, ten
-thousand from Albarracin, ten thousand from Alpuente, six thousand from
-Murviedro, six thousand from Segorbe, four thousand from Jerica, and
-three thousand from Almenara.</p>
-
-<p>With such an amount of personal tribute, the Cid cannot, says Lafuente,
-have been greatly inconvenienced by the action of Alfonso VI. in
-despoiling him of his estates. Supporting his army of seven thousand
-chosen followers on the rich booty acquired in his daily forays upon
-Eastern Spain, from Saragossa to Alicante; regardless of Christian
-rights, but the special scourge of the Moslems; no longer a Saragossan
-general, but a private adventurer, the Cid could afford to quarrel at
-once with Mostain and with Alfonso, and to defy the combined forces of
-Mondhir and Ramon Berenguer.</p>
-
-<p>The rivalry between the Cid and the Catalan was ever fierce in Eastern
-Spain. The opposing armies met at Tebar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> del Pinar in 1090, and although
-the Cid was wounded in the battle, his army was completely successful.
-Mondhir fled from the field; and Ramon Berenguer was once more a
-prisoner in the hands of Roderic. Nor was the Christian count released
-from a confinement more harsh than was generous or necessary until he
-had given good security for the payment of the enormous ransom of eighty
-thousand marks of gold.</p>
-
-<p>It is not easy, nor would it be fruitful, to follow the various
-movements of the Cid at this period of his career. His quarrels and his
-intrigues with Alfonso of Castile, with Cadir of Valencia, with the
-various parties at the court of Saragossa, with Ramon Berenguer at
-Barcelona, and even with the Genoese and Pisans, are neither easy nor
-interesting to follow. But his principal objective was the rich city of
-Valencia. Alfonso of Leon, ever jealous of his great and most
-independent subject, resolved to thwart him in his design; and having
-secured the co-operation of the Pisans and Genoese, who had arrived with
-a fleet of four hundred vessels to assist the Cid, the king took
-advantage of the absence of his rival on some foray to the north of
-Saragossa to advance upon Valencia, and to push forward his operations
-to the very walls of the city. Ruy Diaz riposted after his fashion.</p>
-
-<p>Leaving the Valencians to make good the defense of their own city, he
-carried fire and sword into Alfonso’s peaceful dominions of Najera and
-Calahorra, destroying all the towns, burning all the crops, slaughtering
-the Christian inhabitants; and razing the important city of Logrono to
-the ground. This savagery was completely successful, and met with no
-reproach. The Cid is one of those fortu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>nate heroes to whom all things
-are permitted. His excesses are forgotten; his independence admired; his
-boldness and his success are alone remembered. Alfonso, thus rudely
-summoned to the north of the Peninsula, abruptly raised the siege of
-Valencia.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was the king’s action at Valencia without a favorable influence upon
-the fortunes of the Cid. Far from wresting the city from the grasp of
-Roderic, Alfonso had rather precipitated the crisis which was ultimately
-to lead to his triumphal entry as the independent ruler of the city.
-Cadir was murdered by a hostile faction within the walls; and the Cid,
-advancing with his usual prudence, spent some time in possessing himself
-of the suburbs and the approaches to the city, before the siege was
-commenced in good earnest, in July, 1093.</p>
-
-<p>The operations were carried on in the most ferocious fashion by the
-attacking force. Roderic burned his prisoners alive from day to day
-within the sight of the walls, or caused them to be torn in pieces by
-his dogs under the very eyes of their fellow-townsmen.</p>
-
-<p>The blockaded city was soon a prey to the utmost horrors of famine.
-Negotiation was fruitless. Succor came not. Neither Christian nor
-Moslem, neither Alfonso the Castilian, nor Yusuf the Almoravide, nor
-Mostain of Saragossa, appearing to defend or to relieve the city,
-Valencia capitulated on the 15th of June, 1094.</p>
-
-<p>The Moslem commander, Ibn Jahaf, was burned alive. The Moslem
-inhabitants were treated with scant consideration, and the Cid, as might
-have been supposed, proclaimed himself sovereign of Valencia,
-independent of either Christian Alfonso or Moorish Mostain; and at
-Valencia he lived<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span> and reigned until the day of his death, but five
-years afterward, in 1099. His rule was often threatened by the
-Almoravides; but as long as the champion lived they could effect no
-entry within the walls of his city.</p>
-
-<p>For full three years after his death, moreover, his widow Ximena, and
-his cousin Alvar Fanez, maintained a precarious sovereignty at Valencia.
-At length, unsupported by Alfonso of Leon, and unable to stand alone in
-the midst of the Moslems, they retired to Burgos, carrying with them the
-body of the Cid embalmed in precious spices, borne, as of old, on his
-faithful steed Babieca, to its last resting place in Castile. Valencia
-was immediately occupied by the Almoravides, and became once more a
-Moslem stronghold; nor did it finally pass into Christian hands until it
-was taken by James the First of Aragon in 1238. The Cid was buried in
-the Monastery of Cardena, near Burgos; and the body of his heroic wife,
-Dona Ximena, who died in 1104, was laid by his side in the tomb.</p>
-
-<p>The legend of the marriage of the Cid’s daughters with the Infantes of
-Carrion, of their desertion, and of the vengeance of the Cid upon their
-unworthy husbands, is undoubtedly an invention of the Castilian
-minstrels.</p>
-
-<p>The legend of the death of the Cid’s son at the battle of Consuegra is
-certainly fallacious. There is no evidence that a son was ever born to
-him at all. But he had undoubtedly two daughters, one of whom,
-Christina, married Ramiro, Infante of Navarre, and the other, Maria,
-became the countess of Ramon Berenguer III. of Barcelona. The issue of
-Ramon Berenguer III. was a daughter who died childless, but a
-granddaughter of Ramiro of Navarre mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span>ried Sancho III. of Castile,
-whose son, Alfonso VIII., was the grandfather both of St. Ferdinand and
-of St. Louis. And thus in a double stream, through the royal houses of
-Spain and of France, the blood of the Cid is found to flow in the veins
-of his Majesty Alfonso XIII., the reigning king of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>To understand or appreciate the position that is occupied by the Cid in
-Spanish history is at the present day supremely difficult. A medieval
-condottiere in the service of the Moslem, when he was not fighting to
-fill his own coffers with perfect impartiality against Moor or
-Christian: banished as a traitor by his Castilian sovereign, and
-constantly leading the forces of the Infidel against Aragon, against
-Catalonia, and even against Castile, he has become the national hero of
-Spain. Warring against the Moslem of Valencia, whom he pitilessly
-despoiled, with the aid of the Moslem of Saragossa, whose cause he
-cynically betrayed, while he yet owned a nominal allegiance to Alfonso
-of Castile, whose territories he was pitilessly ravaging; retaining
-conquered Valencia for his personal and private advantage, in despite of
-Moslem or Christian kings, he has become the type of Christian loyalty
-and Christian chivalry in Europe. Avaricious, faithless, cruel and bold,
-a true soldier of fortune, the Cid still maintains a reputation which is
-one of the enigmas of history.</p>
-
-<p>The three favorites of medieval Spanish romance, says Senor Lafuente,
-Bernardo del Carpio, Fernan Gonzalez, and the Cid, have this at least in
-common, that they were all at war with their lawful sovereigns, and
-fought their battles independently of the crown. Hence their popularity
-in Spain. The Castilians of the Middle Ages were so<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span> devoted to their
-independence, so proud of their Fueros, such admirers of personal
-prowess, that they were disposed to welcome with national admiration
-those heroes who sprang from the people, who defied and were ill-treated
-by their kings.</p>
-
-<p>The theory is both ingenious and just, yet it by no means solves the
-difficulty. Ruy Diaz of Bivar, who was one of the proudest nobles of
-Castile, can scarcely be said to have sprung from the people, nor do we
-clearly perceive why his long service under Moslem kings, even though he
-was a rebel against his own sovereign, should have endeared him to the
-Christian Spaniards, however independent or however democratic. Yet we
-may learn at least from the character of the hero, ideal though it be,
-that the medieval Castilians were no bigots, and that they were slaves
-neither to their kings nor to their clergy.</p>
-
-<p>The people of Aragon no doubt held their king in a more distinctly
-constitutional subjection. No Castilian chief-justice was found to call
-the sovereign to order: no Privilege of Union legalized a popular war in
-defense of popular liberties. But Roderic took the place of the
-justiciary in legend, if not in history, when he administered the oath
-to Alfonso at Burgos; and he invested himself with the privilege of
-warring against an aggressive king, when he routed Alfonso’s forces, and
-burned his cities, to requite him for his attack upon Valencia.</p>
-
-<p>It is this rebellious boldness which contributed no doubt very largely
-to endear the Cid to his contemporaries. It is one of the most constant
-characteristics of his career; one of the features that is portrayed
-with equal clearness by the chroniclers and the ballad-makers of Spain.
-For the Cid<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> is essentially a popular hero. His legendary presentment is
-a kind of poetic protest against arbitrary regal power. The Cid ballads
-are a pæan of triumphant democracy. The ideal Cid no doubt was evolved
-in the course of the twelfth century; and by the end of the fifteenth
-century, when the rule of kings and priests had become harder and
-heavier in Spain, an enslaved people looked back with an envious
-national pride to the Castilian hero who personified the freedom of
-bygone days.</p>
-
-<p>The Cid is the only knight-errant that has survived the polished satire
-of Cervantes. For his fame was neither literary nor aristocratic; but,
-like the early Spanish proverbs, in which it is said he took so great a
-delight, it was embedded deep in the hearts of the people.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> And
-although the memory of his religious indifference may not have added to
-his popularity in the sixteenth century in Spain, it is a part of his
-character which must be taken into account in gauging the public opinion
-of earlier days.</p>
-
-<p>From the close of the eighth century to the close of the fifteenth, the
-Spanish people, Castilians and Aragonese, were, if anything, less
-bigoted than the rest of Europe. The influence of their neighbors the
-Moors, and of their Arab toleration, could not be without its effect
-upon a people naturally free, independent, and self-reliant, and the
-Cid, who was certainly troubled with no religious scruples in the course
-of his varied career, and who, according to a popular legend, affronted
-and threatened the Pope on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> throne in St Peter’s, on account of some
-fancied slight,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> could never have been the hero of a nation of bigots.
-The degenerate Visigoths from the time of Reccared the Catholic to the
-time of Roderic the Vanquished could never have produced a Cid. Yet,
-even in the dark days of Erwig and Egica, there was found a Julian, who
-boldly maintained the national independence against the pretensions of
-the Pope of Rome. For a thousand years after the landing of St.
-Paul&mdash;if, indeed, he ever landed upon the coast&mdash;the Spanish Church was,
-perhaps, the most independent in Europe. The royal submission to the
-Papal authority, first by Sancho I. of Aragon, in 1071, and afterward by
-Alfonso VI. of Leon, in 1085, in the matter of the Romish Ritual, was
-distinctly unpopular. Peter II. found no lack of recruits for the army
-that he led against the Papal troops in Languedoc, and King James I.,
-the most popular of the kings of Aragon, cut out the tongue of a
-meddlesome bishop who had presumed to interfere in his private affairs
-(1246). It was not until the Inquisition was forced upon United Spain by
-Isabella the Catholic, and the national lust for the plunder of
-strangers was aroused by the destruction of Granada, that the Spaniard
-became a destroyer of heretics. It was not until the spoliation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> and the
-banishment of Jews and Moriscos, and the opening of a new world of
-heathen treasure on the discovery of America, that the Castilian, who
-had always been independent himself, became intolerant of the
-independence of others. Then, indeed, he added the cruelty of the priest
-to the cruelty of the soldier, and wrapping himself in the cloak of a
-proud and uncompromising national orthodoxy, became the most ferocious
-bigot in two unhappy worlds.</p>
-
-<p>But in the beginning it was not so. And if the Cid could possibly have
-been annoyed by Torquemada, his knights would have hanged the Inquisitor
-upon the nearest tree. No priests’ man, in good sooth, was Roderic of
-Bivar, nor, save in that he was a brave and determined soldier, had the
-great Castilian Free Lance anything in common with the more conventional
-heroes of United Spain.</p>
-
-<p>If history affords no reasonable explanation of his unrivaled renown
-beyond that which has already been suggested, we find but little in the
-early poetry to assist us. The Cid ballads impress us “more by their
-number than their light.” They are neither very interesting in
-themselves, nor are they even very suggestive. Only thirty-seven ballads
-are considered by Huber to be older than the sixteenth century. “La
-plupart de ces romances,” says M. Dozy, “accusent leur origine moderne”;
-and, according to Mr. Ormsby, they do but little toward the illustration
-of the Cid, either as a picturesque hero of romance or as a
-characteristic feature of medieval history.</p>
-
-<p>The great French dramatist scarcely touches the true history of his
-hero. The scene of the play is laid at Se<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span>ville, where no Christian king
-set his foot for a hundred and fifty years after the death of Roderic.
-The title which he accepted from his employer, Mostain of Saragossa, is
-said to have been granted by Alfonso of Leon, after the capture of two
-imaginary Moorish kings, unknown to history, in an impossible battle on
-the banks of the Guadalquivir, which was never seen by the Cid. The
-whole action of the play turns upon the moral and psychological
-difficulties arising from the purely legendary incident of the killing
-of Chimene’s father by her lover, avenging an insult offered to his own
-sire, and of the somewhat artificial indignation of the lady, until she
-is appeased by a slaughter of Moors. Corneille’s drama abounds in noble
-sentiments expressed in most admirable verse; but it does not assist us
-to understand the character of the Cid, nor the reasons of his
-popularity in his own or in any other country. But certain at least it
-is that from the earliest times the story of his life and his career
-took a strong hold upon the popular imagination in Spain, and his
-virtues and his vices, little as they may seem to us to warrant the
-popular admiration, were understood and appreciated in the age in which
-he lived, an age of force and fraud, of domestic treason and foreign
-treachery, when religion preached little but battle and murder, and
-patriotism was but a pretext for plunder and rapine. Admired thus, even
-in his lifetime, as a gallant soldier, an independent chieftain, and an
-ever successful general, fearless, dexterous, and strong, his free
-career became a favorite theme with the jongleurs and troubadours of the
-next generation; and from the Cid of history was evolved a Cid of
-legendary song.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It is most difficult at the present day to know exactly where serious
-history ends and where poetry and legend begin. Yet the Cid as
-represented to us by M. Dozy, one of the most acute of modern
-investigators of historic truth, is not so very different from the Cid
-represented by Southey, or even by earlier and less critical poets, but
-that we may form a reasonable estimate, from what is common to both
-history and tradition, of what manner of man he was. The Cid of the
-twelfth century legends, indeed, though he may be more marvelous, is by
-no means more moral than the Cid of history. It was reserved for the
-superior refinement of succeeding generations, and more especially for
-the anonymous author of the poem of the thirteenth century to evolve a
-hero of a gentler and nobler mold; a creature conforming to a higher
-ideal of knightly perfection. From this time forward we have a glorified
-Cid, whose adventures are no more historically false, perhaps, than
-those of the unscrupulous and magnificent Paladin of the legends and
-romances of the twelfth century, but whose character possesses all the
-dignity and all the glory with which he could be invested by a generous
-medieval imagination. And it is this refined and idealized hero;
-idealized, yet most real; refined, yet eminently human, that has been
-worshiped by nineteen generations of Spaniards as the national hero of
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Ruy Diaz&mdash;as he lived and died&mdash;was probably no worse a man than any of
-his neighbors. Far better than many of them he was, and undoubtedly
-bolder and stronger, more capable, more adroit, and more successful.</p>
-
-<p>Seven of the Christian princes of Spain at this period<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> fell in battle
-warring against their own near relations, or were murdered by their
-hands in cold blood. Garcia of Castile was slain by the sword of the
-Velas. Bermudo III. of Leon and Garcia Sanchez of Navarre died fighting
-against their brother, Ferdinand of Castile. Sancho II. of Castile was
-assassinated by order of his sister Urraca, besieged by him in her city
-of Zamora. Among the Christian kings of the century immediately before
-him, Garcia of Galicia was strangled in prison by the hands of his
-brothers, Sancho and Alfonso; Sancho Garcia of Navarre was assassinated
-by his brother Ramon, at Peñalva; Ramon Berenguer II. of Barcelona died
-by the dagger of his brother Berenguer Ramon; Sancho the Fat, in 967,
-was poisoned at a friendly repast by Gonzalo Sanchez; Ruy Velasquez of
-Castile, in 986, murdered his seven nephews, the unfortunate Infantes de
-Lara; Sancho of Castile, in 1010, poisoned his mother, who had
-endeavored to poison him. At the wedding festivities at Leon, in 1026,
-Garcia, Count of Castile, was assassinated at the church door, and the
-murderers were promptly burned alive by his friends; Garcia of Navarre,
-in 1030, as an incident in a family dispute about a horse, accused his
-mother of adultery. Such was the standard of the eleventh century in the
-north of the Peninsula.</p>
-
-<p>To judge the Cid, even as we now know him, according to any code of
-modern ethics, is supremely unreasonable. To be sure, even now, that we
-know him as he was, is supremely presumptuous. But that Ruy Diaz was a
-great man, and a great leader of men, a knight who would have shocked
-modern poets, and a free lance who would have laughed at modern heroes,
-we can have no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span> manner of doubt. That he satisfied his contemporaries
-and himself; that he slew Moors and Christians as occasion required,
-with equal vigor and absolute impartiality; that he bearded the King of
-Leon in his Christian council, and that he cozened the King of Saragossa
-at the head of his Moslem army; that he rode the best horse and
-brandished the best blade in Spain; that his armies never wanted for
-valiant soldiers, nor his coffers for gold pieces; that he lived my Lord
-the Challenger, the terror of every foe, and that he died rich and
-respected in the noble city that had fallen to his knightly spear&mdash;of
-all this at least we are certain; and, if the tale is displeasing to our
-nineteenth century refinement, we must be content to believe that it
-satisfied the aspirations of medieval Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">MOORISH SPAIN</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS&mdash;THE RISE AND FALL OF GRANADA&mdash;FERDINAND AND
-ISABELLA&mdash;THE GREAT CAPTAIN</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Moslem</span> rule in Spain may be conveniently summarized as
-consisting&mdash;first, in the Caliphs of Cordova; second, in the dynasty of
-the Almoravides; third, in that of the Almohades; and, finally, the
-kings of Granada.</p>
-
-<p>Concerning the first it may be noted that in the long reign of the last
-Abdur Rahman were the seeds of its dissolution. Brooking no rival during
-his lifetime, at his death he found no successor. Then upon the ruins of
-the great Caliphate twenty independent and hostile dynasties surged.
-Meanwhile Alfonso was eyeing them from his citadel. At the gates of
-Valencia was the Cid. For common safety the Moslem rivals looked for a
-common defender. In Africa that defender was found in Yusuf, the Berber
-chief of a tribe of religious soldiers known as the Almoravides.</p>
-
-<p>Invited to Spain, he crossed over, and, meeting Alfonso at Zalaca, near
-Badajoz, on the 23d of October, 1086, he routed him with great and
-historic slaughter.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Yusuf [says Burke] had come as a Moslem defender, but he remained as a
-Moslem master. And once more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> in Spanish history, the over-powerful ally
-turned his victorious arms against those who had welcomed him to their
-shores. Yet Yusuf was no vulgar traitor. He had sworn to the envoys of
-the Spanish Moslems that he would return to Africa, in the event of
-victory, without the annexation to his African empire of a field or a
-city to the north of the Straits. And his vow was religiously kept.
-Retiring empty-handed to Mauritania, after the great battle at Zalaca,
-he returned once more to Spain, unfettered on this new expedition by any
-vow, and set to work with his usual vigor to make himself master of the
-Peninsula. Tarifa fell in December. The next year saw the capture of
-Seville, and of all of the principal cities of Andalusia. An army sent
-by Alfonso VI., under his famous captain, Alvar Fanez, was completely
-defeated, and all Southern Spain lay at the feet of the Berber, save
-only Valencia, which remained impregnable so long as the Cid lived to
-direct the defense. In 1102, after the hero’s death, Valencia succumbed,
-and all Spain to the south of the Tagus became a province of the great
-African empire of the Almoravides.</p>
-
-<p>The rule of these hardy bigots was entirely unlike that of the Ommeyad
-Caliphs of the West. Moslem Spain had no longer even an independent
-existence. The sovereign resided not at Cordova, but at Morocco. The
-poets and musicians were banished from court. The beauties of Az Zahra
-were forgotten. Jews and Christians were alike persecuted. The kingdom
-was governed with an iron hand. But if the rule of the stranger was not
-generous, it was just, and for the moment it possessed the crowning
-merit that it was efficient. The laws were once more respected. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span>
-people once more dreamed of wealth and happiness. But it was little more
-than a dream.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Yusuf in 1107 the scepter passed into the hands of his
-son Ali, a more sympathetic but a far less powerful ruler. In 1118 the
-great city of Saragossa, the last bulwark of Islam in the north of the
-Peninsula, was taken by Alfonso I. of Aragon, who carried his victorious
-arms into Southern Spain, and fulfilled a rash vow by eating a dinner of
-fresh fish on the coast of Granada.</p>
-
-<p>Yet it was by no Christian hand that the empire of the Almoravides was
-to be overthrown.</p>
-
-<p>Mohammed Ibn Abdullah, a lamplighter in the mosque at Cordova, had made
-his way to remote Bagdad to study at the feet of Abu Hamid Algazali, a
-celebrated doctor of Moslem law. The strange adventures, so
-characteristic of his age and nation, by which the lowly student became
-a religious reformer&mdash;a Mahdi&mdash;and a conqueror in Africa, and at length
-overthrew the Almoravides, both to the north and the south of the
-Straits of Gibraltar, forms a most curious chapter in the history of
-Islam; but in a brief sketch of the fortunes of medieval Spain, it must
-suffice to say that having established his religious and military power
-among the Berber tribes of Africa, Ibn Abdullah, the Mahdi, landed at
-Algeciras in 1145, and possessed himself in less than four years of
-Malaga, Seville, Granada, and Cordova. The empire of the Almoravides was
-completely destroyed; and, before the close of the year 1149, all Moslem
-Spain acknowledged the supremacy of the Almohades.</p>
-
-<p>These more sturdy fanatics were still African rather than Spanish
-sovereigns. Moslem Spain was adminis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span>tered by a Vali deputed from
-Morocco; and Cordova, shorn of much of its former splendor, was the
-occasional abode of a royal visitor from Barbary. For seventy years the
-Almohades retained their position in Spain. But their rule was not of
-glory but of decay. One high feat of arms indeed shed a dying luster on
-the name of the Berber prince who reigned for fifteen years (1184-99)
-under the auspicious title of Almanzor, and his great Moslem victory
-over Alfonso II. at Alarcon in 1195 revived for the time the drooping
-fortunes of the Almohades. But their empire was already doomed,
-decaying, disintegrated, wasting away. And at length the terrible defeat
-of the Moslem forces by the united armies of the three Christian kings
-at the Navas do Tolosa in 1212, at once the most crushing and the most
-authentic of all the Christian victories of medieval Spain, gave a final
-and deadly blow to the Moslem dominion of the Peninsula. Within a few
-years of that celebrated battle, Granada alone was subject to the rule
-of Islam.</p>
-
-<p>It was in the year 1228 that a descendant of the old Moorish kings of
-Saragossa rebelled against the Almohades and succeeded in making himself
-master not merely of Granada, but of Cordova, Seville, Algeciras, and
-even of Ceuta, and, obtaining a confirmation of his rights from Bagdad,
-assumed the title of Amir ul Moslemin&mdash;Commander of the Moslems&mdash;and Al
-Mutawakal&mdash;the Protected of God.</p>
-
-<p>But a rival was not slow to appear. Mohammed Al Ahmar, the Fair or the
-Ruddy, defeated, dethroned, and slew Al Mutawakal, and reigned in his
-stead in Andalusia. Despoiled in his turn of most of his possessions by
-St. Ferdi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span>nand of Castile, Al Ahmar was fain at length to content
-himself with the rich districts in the extreme south of the Peninsula,
-which are known to fame, wherever the Spanish or the English language is
-spoken, as the Kingdom of Granada. And thus it came to pass that the
-city on the banks of the Darro, the home of the proud and highly
-cultivated Syrians of Damascus, the flower of the early Arab invaders of
-Spain, became also the abiding place of the later Arab civilization,
-overmastered year after year, and destroyed, by the Christian armies
-ever pressing on to the southern sea. Yet, in the middle of the
-thirteenth century, the flood tide of reconquest had for the moment
-fairly spent itself. The Christians were not strong enough to conquer,
-and above all they were not numerous enough to occupy, the districts
-that were still peopled by the Moor; and for once a wise and highly
-cultivated Christian shared the supreme power in the Peninsula with a
-generous and honorable Moslem. Alfonso X. sought not to extend his
-frontiers, but to educate his people, not to slaughter his neighbors,
-but to give laws to his subjects, not to plunder frontier cities, but to
-make Castile into a kingdom, with a history, a civilization, and a
-language of her own. If the reputation of Alfonso is by no means
-commensurate with his true greatness, the statesmanship of Mohammed Al
-Ahmar, the founder of the ever famous Kingdom of Granada, is
-overshadowed by his undying fame as an architect. Yet is Al Ahmar worthy
-of remembrance as a king and the parent of kings in Spain. The loyal
-friend and ally of his Christian neighbor, the prudent administrator of
-his own dominions, he collected at his Arab court a great part of the
-wealth, the science, and the intelligence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> Spain. His empire has long
-ago been broken up; the Moslem has been driven out; there is no king nor
-kingdom of Granada. But their memory lives in the great palace fortress
-whose red towers still rise over the sparkling Darro, and whose fairy
-chambers are still to be seen in what is, perhaps, the most celebrated
-of the wonder works of the master builders of the world.</p>
-
-<p>After his long and glorious reign of forty-two years, Mohammed the Fair
-was killed by a fall from his horse near Granada, and was succeeded by
-his son, Mohammed II., in the last days of the year 1272. Al Ahmar had
-ever remained at peace with Alfonso X., but his son, taking advantage of
-the king’s absence in quest of an empire in Germany, sought the
-assistance of Yusuf, the sovereign or emperor of Morocco, and invaded
-the Christian frontiers.</p>
-
-<p>Victory was for some time on the side of the Moors. The Castilians were
-defeated at Ecija in 1275, and their leader, the Viceroy Don Nunez de
-Lara, was killed in battle, as was also Don Sancho, Infante of Aragon
-and Archbishop of Toledo, after the rout of his army at Martos, near
-Jaen, on the 21st of October, 1275; and the victorious Yusuf ravaged
-Christian Spain to the very gates of Seville.</p>
-
-<p>In the next year, 1276, the Castilian armies were again twice defeated,
-in February at Alcoy and in the following July at Lucena. To add to
-their troubles, King James of Aragon died at Valencia in 1276. Sancho of
-Castile sought to depose his father Alfonso, at Valladolid. All was in
-confusion among the Christians; and had it not been for the defection of
-Yusuf of Morocco, the tide of fortune might have turned in favor of
-Islam. As it was, the Af<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span>rican monarch not only abandoned his cousin of
-Granada, but he was actually persuaded to send one hundred thousand
-ducats to his Christian rival at Seville in 1280.</p>
-
-<p>The value of this assistance was soon felt. Tarifa was taken in 1292,
-and the progress of the Moor was checked forever in Southern Spain.
-Mohammed II. died in 1302, and was succeeded by his son, Mohammed III.,
-who was usually considered by the Moslem historians to have been the
-ablest monarch of his house. But he reigned for only seven years, and he
-was unable to defend Gibraltar from the assaults of his Christian
-rivals.</p>
-
-<p>From this time the court of Granada became a sort of city of refuge for
-the disaffected lords and princes of Castile, who sometimes, but rarely,
-prevailed upon their Moslem hosts to assist them in expeditions into
-Christian Spain, but who were always welcomed with true Arab hospitality
-at the Moslem capital. To record their various intrigues would be a vain
-and unpleasing task. The general course of history was hardly affected
-by passing alliances. The Christian pressed on&mdash;with ever-increasing
-territory behind him&mdash;on his road to the southern sea.</p>
-
-<p>In 1319, Abdul Walid or Ismail I. of Granada defeated and slew Don Pedro
-and Don Juan, Infantes of Castile, at a place near Granada, still known
-as the Sierra de los Infantes. But no important consequences followed
-the victory.</p>
-
-<p>In the reign of Yusuf (1333-54) was fought the great battle of the
-Salado (1340), when the Christians, under Alfonso XI., were completely
-successful; and the capitulation of Algeciras three years later deprived
-the Moslems of an important harbor and seaport. Day by day&mdash;almost hour
-by hour<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span>&mdash;the Christians encroached upon Granada, even while cultivating
-the political friendship and accepting the private hospitality of the
-Moslem. Their treacherous intervention reached its climax in 1362, when
-Peter the Cruel decoyed the King Abu Said, under his royal safe-conduct,
-to the palace at Seville, and slew him with his own hand.</p>
-
-<p>With Mohammed or Maulai al Aisar, or the Left-handed, the affairs of
-Granada became more intimately connected with the serious history of
-Spain. Al Hayzari, proclaimed king in 1423, and dethroned soon after by
-his cousin, another Mohammed, in 1427 sought and found refuge at the
-court of John II., by whose instrumentality he was restored to his
-throne at the Alhambra in 1429. Yet within four years a rival sovereign,
-Yusuf, had secured the support of the fickle Christian, and Muley the
-Left-handed was forced a second time to fly from his capital. Once
-again, by the sudden death of the new usurper, he returned to reign at
-Granada, and once again for the third time he was supplanted by a more
-fortunate rival, who reigned as Mohammed IX. for nearly ten years
-(1445-54). At the end of this period, however, another pretender was
-dispatched from the Christian court, and after much fighting and
-intrigue, Mohammed Ibn Ismail, a nephew of Maulai or Muley the
-Left-handed, drove out the reigning sovereign and succeeded him as
-Mohammed X.</p>
-
-<p>Yet were the dominions of this Christian ally unceasingly ravaged by his
-Christian neighbors. Gibraltar, Archidona, and much surrounding
-territory were taken by the forces of Henry IV. and his nobles; and a
-treaty was at length concluded in 1464, in which it was agreed that
-Mohammed of Granada should hold his kingdom under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> protection of
-Castile, and should pay an annual subsidy or tribute of twelve thousand
-gold ducats. It was thus, on the death, in 1466, of this Mohammed Ismail
-of Granada, that a vexed and harassed throne was inherited by his son
-Muley Abul Hassan, ever famous in history and romance as “The old
-king”&mdash;the last independent sovereign of Granada.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Henry’s only daughter Joanna being regarded as the fruit of
-the queen’s adultery, he was deposed, but restored after acknowledging
-as his heiress his sister Isabella, who subsequently, through her
-marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon, joined the two most powerful of
-Spanish kingdoms into one yet more powerful State.</p>
-
-<p>To return now to Muley Abul Hassan.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> For many years after his
-accession he observed with his Christian neighbors the treaties that had
-been made, nor did he take advantage of the civil war which arose by
-reason of Joanna’s pretensions to add to the difficulties already
-existing, and in the spring of 1476 sought a formal renewal of the old
-Treaty of Peace.</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand, however, made his acceptance of the king’s proposal
-contingent upon the grant of an annual tribute; and he sent an envoy to
-the Moslem court to negotiate the terms of payment. But the reply of
-Abul Hassan was decisive. “Steel,” said he, “not gold, was what
-Ferdinand should have from Granada!” Disappointed of their subsidy, and
-unprepared for war, the Christian sovereigns were content to renew the
-treaty, with a mental reservation that as soon as a favorable
-opportunity should<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> present itself they would drive every Moslem not
-only out of Granada, but out of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>For five years there was peace between Abul Hassan and the Catholic
-sovereigns. The commencement of hostilities was the capture of Zahara by
-the Moslems at the close of the year 1481; which was followed early in
-next year, 1482, by the conquest of the far more important Moorish
-stronghold of Alhama, not by the troops of Ferdinand and Isabella, but
-by the followers of Ponce de Leon, the celebrated Marquis of Cadiz.
-Alhama was not merely a fortress. It was a treasure-house and a
-magazine; and it was but five or six leagues from Granada. The town was
-sacked with the usual horrors. The Marquis of Cadiz, having made good
-his position within the walls, defied all the attacks of Abul Hassan,
-and at the same time sent messengers to every Christian lord in
-Andalusia to come to his assistance&mdash;to all save one, his hereditary
-enemy, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, chief of the great family of the
-Guzmans. Yet it was this generous rival, who, assembling all his
-chivalry and retainers, was the first to appear before the walls of
-Alhama, and relieve the Christians from the threatened assault of the
-Moslem. The days of civil discord had passed away in Castile; and
-against united Christendom, Islam could not long exist in Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Ferdinand, seeing that war had finally broken out, started
-from Medina del Campo, and marched with all speed to Cordova, where he
-was joined by Isabella early in April, 1482. The Inquisition had now
-been for over a year in full blast at Seville. The fires of persecution
-had been fairly lighted. The reign of bigotry<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> had begun, and the king
-and queen were encouraged to proceed from the plunder of the Jews or New
-Christians to the plunder of the Moslems. Ferdinand accordingly repaired
-in person to Alhama, with a large train of prelates and ecclesiastics of
-lower degree. The city was solemnly purified. Three mosques were
-consecrated by the Cardinal of Spain for Christian worship. Bells,
-crosses, plate, altar cloths were furnished without stint; and Alhama
-having been thus restored to civilization, Ferdinand descended upon the
-fruitful valley or Vega of Granada, destroyed the crops, cut down the
-fruit trees, uprooted the vines, and, without having encountered a
-single armed enemy in the course of his crusade, returned in triumph to
-Cordova. A more arduous enterprise in the following July was not
-attended with the same success, when Ferdinand attacked the important
-town of Loja, and was repulsed with great loss of Christian life. An
-expedition against Malaga, later in the year, undertaken by Alfonso de
-Cardenas, Grand Master of Santiago, and the Marquis of Cadiz, was even
-more disastrous, for a small body of Moors in the mountain defiles of
-the Axarquia fell upon the Christian marauders, and no less than four
-hundred “persons of quality” are said to have perished in the retreat,
-including thirty commanders of the great military order of Santiago. The
-Grand Master, the Marquis of Cadiz, and Don Alfonso de Aguilar escaped
-as by a miracle, and the survivors straggled into Loja and Antequera and
-Malaga, leaving Abul Hassan and his brother Al Zagal, or the Valiant,
-with all the honors of war.</p>
-
-<p>But the successes of the Moor in the field were more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span> than
-counterbalanced by treason in the palace. By Zoraya, a lady of Christian
-ancestry, Muley Abul Hassan had a son, Abu Abdallah, who has earned a
-sad notoriety under the more familiar name of Boabdil. Jealous of some
-rival, or ambitious of greater power, the Sultana and her son intrigued
-against their sovereign, and having escaped from the State prison, in
-which they were at first prudently confined, raised the standard of
-revolt, and compelled Abul Hassan, who was thenceforth more usually
-spoken of as the Old King, to seek refuge on the sea-coast at Malaga.</p>
-
-<p>Boabdil, jealous of the success of his father and his undo at Loja and
-in the Axarquia, and anxious to confirm his power by some striking
-victory over the Christians, took the field and confronted the forces of
-the Count of Cabra, near Lucena. The battle was hotly contested, but
-victory remained with the Christians. Ali Atar, the bravest of the
-Moorish generals, was slain by the hand of Alfonso de Aguilar, and
-Boabdil himself was taken prisoner by a common soldier, Hurtado by name,
-and fell into the hands of the victorious Count of Cabra.</p>
-
-<p>The captivity of Boabdil, the Little King, el Rey Chico, as he was
-called by the Castilians, was the turning point in the history of the
-Moorish dominion in Spain. Released on payment of a magnificent ransom
-provided by his mother Zoraya, and bound to his Christian captors by a
-humiliating treaty, he returned to Granada, disgraced and dishonored, as
-the ally of the enemies of his country. Driven out of the capital by the
-forces of his father, who had returned to occupy the great
-palace-fortress of Alhambra, Boabdil and his mother retired to Almeria,
-the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> second city in the kingdom; and the whole country was distracted by
-civil war.</p>
-
-<p>Yet for four years the Castilians refrained from any important
-expedition against Granada. Their tactics were rather those of Scipio at
-Numantia. For Delay was all in favor of Disintegration.</p>
-
-<p>Yet the merciless devastation of fields and crops was carried on with
-systematic and dreadful completeness. Thirty thousand destroyers of
-peaceful homesteads, granaries, farmhouses, and mills were constantly at
-work, and ere long there was scarce a vineyard or an oliveyard, scarce
-an orchard or an orange-grove existing within reach of the Christian
-borders. Under cover of the treaty with Boabdil, this devilish enginery
-of destruction was steadily pushed forward, while the old king and his
-more vigorous brother El Zagal were prevented by domestic treason from
-making any effectual defense of their fatherland. Some of the border
-towns, moreover, fell into the hands of the Christians, and many forays
-were undertaken which produced rich booty for the marauders. Ferdinand
-in the meantime occupied himself rather with the affairs of the
-Inquisition and of foreign policy, while Isabella was personally
-superintending the enormous preparations for a final attack on Granada.
-Artillery was cast in large quantities, and artificers imported from
-France and Italy; large stores of ammunition were procured from
-Flanders. Nothing was hurried; nothing was spared; nothing was forgotten
-by Isabella. A camp hospital, the first, it is said, in the history of
-warfare, was instituted by the queen, whose energy was indefatigable,
-whose powers of organization were boundless, and whose determination was
-inflexible. To represent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span> her as a tender and a timid princess is to
-turn her true greatness into ridicule. But her vigor, her prudence, and
-her perseverance are beyond the vulgar praise of history.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Granada was gradually withering away. The “pomegranate,” as
-Ferdinand had foreseen and foretold, was losing one by one the seeds of
-which the rich and lovely fruit had once been all compact. The old king,
-defeated but not disgraced, blind, infirm, and unfortunate, was
-succeeded too late by his more capable brother, El Zagal, a gallant
-warrior, a skillful commander, and a resolute ruler. But if “the valiant
-one” might hardly have held his own against the enormous resources of
-the Christians in Europe, he was powerless against the combination of
-foreign vigor and domestic treachery. The true conqueror of Granada is
-Boabdil, the rebel and the traitor, who has been euphemistically
-surnamed the Unlucky (El Zogoibi). Innocent, perchance, of the massacre
-of the brave Abencerrages, he is guilty of the blood of his country.</p>
-
-<p>The capture of Velez Malaga by Ferdinand, already well supplied with a
-powerful train of artillery, in April, 1487&mdash;while El Zagal was fighting
-for his life against Boabdil in Granada&mdash;was soon followed by the
-reduction, after a most heroic defense, of the far more important city
-of Malaga in August, 1487. But the heroism of the Moslem woke no
-generous echo in the hearts of either Ferdinand or Isabella. The entire
-population of the captured city, men, women, and children&mdash;some fifteen
-thousand souls&mdash;was reduced to slavery, and distributed not only over
-Spain, but over Europe.</p>
-
-<p>A hundred choice warriors were sent as a gift to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span> Pope. Fifty of the
-most beautiful girls were presented to the Queen of Naples, thirty more
-to the Queen of Portugal, others to the ladies of her court, and the
-residue of both sexes were portioned off among the nobles, the knights,
-and the common soldiers of the army, according to their rank and
-influence.</p>
-
-<p>For the Jews and renegades a more dreadful doom was reserved; and the
-flames in which they perished were, in the words of a contemporary
-ecclesiastic, “the illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of
-Ferdinand and Isabella.” The town was repeopled by Christian immigrants,
-to whom the lands and houses of the Moslem owners were granted with
-royal liberality by the victors. The fall of Malaga, the second seaport
-and the third city of the kingdom of Granada, was a grievous loss to the
-Moors; and the Christian blockade was drawn closer both by land and by
-sea. Yet an invasion of the eastern provinces, undertaken by Ferdinand
-himself in 1488, was repulsed by El Zagal; and the Christian army was
-disbanded as usual at the close of the year, without having extended the
-Christian dominions.</p>
-
-<p>But in the spring of 1489 greater efforts were made. The Castilians sat
-down before the town of Baza, not far from Jaen, and after a siege which
-lasted until the following December, the city surrendered, not, as in
-the case of Malaga, without conditions, but upon honorable terms of
-capitulation, which the assailants, who had only been prevented by the
-arrival of Isabella from raising the siege, were heartily glad to
-accept. The fall of Baza was of more than passing importance, for it was
-followed by the capitulation of Almeria, the second city in the kingdom,
-and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> the submission of El Zagal, who renounced as hopeless the double
-task of fighting against his nephew at the Alhambra, and resisting the
-Christian sovereigns who had already overrun his borders. The fallen
-monarch passed over to Africa, where he died in indigence and misery,
-the last of the great Moslem rulers of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1490, Ferdinand, already master of the greater part of
-the Moorish kingdom, sent a formal summons to his bondman, Boabdil, to
-surrender to him the city of Granada; and that wretched and most foolish
-traitor, who had refrained from action when action might have saved his
-country, now defied the victorious Christians, when his defiance could
-only lead to further suffering and greater disaster.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout the summer of 1490, Ferdinand, in person, devoted himself to
-the odious task of the devastation of the entire Vega of Granada, and
-the depopulation of the town of Guadix. But in the spring of the next
-year, Isabella, who was ever the life and soul of the war, took up her
-position within six miles of the city, and pitched her camp at Ojos de
-Huescar at the very gate of Granada.</p>
-
-<p>And here was found assembled, not only all the best blood of Castile,
-but volunteers and mercenary troops from various countries in Europe.
-France, England, Italy, and even Germany, each provided their
-contingent; and a body of Swiss soldiers of fortune showed the gallant
-cavaliers of the Christian army the power and the value of a well
-disciplined infantry. Among the foreigners who had come over to Spain in
-1486 was an English lord, the Earl of Rivers, known by the Spaniards as
-El Conde de Escalas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span> from his family name of Scales, whose magnificence
-attracted the admiration of all, even at the magnificent court of
-Isabella.</p>
-
-<p>But the destruction of Granada was not brought about by these gilded
-strangers, nor even by the brilliant knights and nobles of Spain. It was
-not due to skillful engineers nor to irresistible commanders. The gates
-were opened by no victory. The walls were scaled by no assault. The
-Christian success was due to the patient determination of Isabella, to
-the decay and disintegration of the Moorish Commonwealth, and, to some
-extent, to the skillful negotiation and diplomatic astuteness of a young
-soldier whose early influence upon the fortunes of Spain has been
-overshadowed by the greatness of his later achievements.</p>
-
-<p>For among all the splendid knights and nobles who assembled in the camp
-of Isabella, the chroniclers wellnigh overlooked a gay cavalier of
-modest fortune, the younger brother of Alfonso de Aguilar, distinguished
-rather as a fop than a warrior&mdash;Gonsalvo Hernandez of Cordova, whose
-fame was destined to eclipse that of all his companions in arms, and who
-has earned an undying reputation in the history of three countries as
-“The Great Captain.”</p>
-
-<p>The life of Gonsalvo de Cordova is interesting as being the history of a
-brave soldier and an accomplished general, who flourished at a very
-important period of the history of Europe. But it is further and much
-more interesting as being the history of a man who united in himself
-many of the characteristics of ancient and of modern times. His bravery
-was the bravery of an old Castilian knight, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span> although he had many
-splendid rivals, he was pronounced by common consent to be their
-superior. Yet his individual courage was the least remarkable of his
-qualities. He was a general such as the Western world had not known for
-a thousand years, and he was the first diplomatist of modern Europe. In
-personal valor, in knightly courtesy, in brave display, he was of his
-own time. In astute generalship, and in still more astute diplomacy, he
-may be said to have inaugurated a new era; and although greater
-commanders have existed after him, as well as before him, he will always
-be known as “The Great Captain.”</p>
-
-<p>The conquest of Granada marks an epoch, not only in the history of
-Spain, but in the history of Europe; and Gonsalvo was the hero of
-Granada. The expedition of Charles VIII. into Italy is a subject of
-almost romantic interest, very nearly preferred by Gibbon to his own
-immortal theme; and Gonsalvo in Italy was the admired of all French and
-Italian admirers. The succeeding expedition of Louis XII. was scarcely
-less interesting, and the part played by Gonsalvo was even more
-remarkable. At his birth artillery was almost unknown. At his death it
-had become the most formidable arm of offense; it had revolutionized the
-rules and manner of warfare; and it was employed by The Great Captain in
-both his Italian campaigns with marked skill and success.</p>
-
-<p>Gonsalvo Hernandez was born at Montilla, near Cordova, in 1453, of the
-noble and ancient family of the Aguilars. After a boyhood and youth
-devoted, not only to every manly sport and pursuit, and to the practice
-of arms, but to the study of letters, and more especially<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span> of the Arabic
-language, he made his first appearance in serious warfare on the field
-of Olmedo, fighting under the banner of the Marquis of Villena. On the
-death of Prince Alfonso, Gonsalvo returned to Cordova. His father had
-already died; and according to the Spanish law of primogeniture the
-whole of the rich estates of the family of Aguilar passed, on the death
-of Don Pedro, to his eldest son Alfonso, while nothing but a little
-personal property, a great name, a fine person, and “the hope of what he
-might gain by his good fortune or his valor” was inherited by Alfonso’s
-younger brother.</p>
-
-<p>Cordova was obviously too small a field for Gonsalvo de Aguilar; and in
-the course of the eventful year 1474, having just arrived at man’s
-estate, he proceeded to Segovia, and distinguished himself among the
-young nobles who crowded to the Court of Isabella, by his prowess at
-tournaments and all warlike games and exercises; and he soon became
-celebrated for his personal beauty as well as for his valor,
-distinguished for his fascinating manners, and, above all, by an
-eloquence rarely found in a young soldier of two-and-twenty. He was
-generally known as “the Prince of the Youth”; and he supported the
-character by an almost royal liberality and ostentatious expenditure
-entirely incompatible with his modest fortune.</p>
-
-<p>In the war of succession between Isabella and her niece, Gonsalvo served
-under Alfonso de Cardenas, Grand Master of Santiago, in command of a
-troop of one hundred and twenty horsemen; and he particularly
-distinguished himself at the battle of Albuera.</p>
-
-<p>And now, in the camp before Granada, he was well<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span> pleased once more to
-sun himself in the smiles of his queen and patroness, whose presence in
-the camp inspired every soldier with enthusiasm. Isabella appeared on
-the field superbly mounted and dressed in complete armor, and
-continually visited the different quarters, and held reviews of the
-troops. On one occasion she expressed a desire to have a nearer view of
-the city, and a picked body of men, among whom was Gonsalvo de Cordova,
-commanded by the Marquis Duke of Cadiz, escorted her to the little
-village of Zubia, within a short distance of Granada. The citizens,
-indignant at the near approach of so small a force, sallied out and
-attacked them. The Christians, however, stood their ground so bravely,
-and performed such prodigies of valor under the very eyes of Isabella
-herself, that no less than two thousand Moslems are said to have fallen
-in that memorable affray.</p>
-
-<p>It happened one night, about the middle of July, that the drapery of the
-tent or pavilion in which Isabella was lodged took fire, and the
-conflagration was not extinguished until several of the neighboring
-tents had been consumed. The queen and her attendants escaped unhurt,
-but a general consternation prevailed throughout the camp, until it was
-discovered that no more serious loss had been experienced than that of
-the queen’s wardrobe.</p>
-
-<p>Gonsalvo, however, who on more than one occasion showed himself at least
-as practical a courtier as Sir Walter Raleigh, immediately sent an
-express to Illora, and obtained such a supply of fine clothes from his
-wife, Doña Maria Manrique, that the queen herself was amazed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> as much
-at their magnificence as at the rapidity with which they had been
-obtained.</p>
-
-<p>But this incident led to even more important results than the amiable
-pillage of Doña Maria’s wardrobe; for in order to guard against a
-similar disaster, as well as to provide comfortable winter quarters for
-the troops, Isabella determined to construct a sufficient number of
-houses of solid masonry to provide quarters for the besieging army, a
-design which was carried out in less than three months. This martial and
-Christian town, which received the appropriate name of Santa Fe, may be
-still seen by the traveler in the Vega of Granada, and is pointed out by
-good Catholics as the only town in Andalusia that has never been
-contaminated by the Moslem.</p>
-
-<p>But in spite of the attractions of all these feats of arms and
-exhibitions of magnificence, and of all the personal display and rash
-adventure which savors so much more of medieval chivalry than of modern
-warfare, Gonsalvo was more seriously engaged in the schemes and
-negotiations which contributed almost as much as the prowess of the
-Christian arms to the fall of Granada. He had spies everywhere. He knew
-what was going on in Granada better than Boabdil. He knew what was going
-on in the camp better than Ferdinand. His familiarity with Arabic
-enabled him to maintain secret communications with recreant Moors,
-without the dangerous intervention of an interpreter. He kept up
-constant communications with Illora, and having obtained the allegiance
-or friendship of the Moorish chief, Ali Atar, he gained possession of
-the neighboring fortress of Mondejar. He sent pres<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span>ents, in truly
-Oriental style, to many of the Moorish leaders in Granada who favored
-the party of Boabdil, and he was at length chosen by Isabella as the
-most proper person to conduct the negotiations that led to the treaty of
-capitulation, which was signed on the 25th of November, 1491.</p>
-
-<p>The nature and the effect of this Convention are well known. The
-triumphal entry of the Christians into the old Moslem capital; “the last
-sigh of the Moor,” and the setting up of the Cross in the palace-citadel
-of Alhambra, not only form one of the most glowing pages in the romance
-of history, but they mark an epoch in the annals of the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THE INQUISITION</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">TORQUEMADA AND ISABELLA&mdash;THE NEW TRIBUNAL&mdash;THE PENALTY OF UNSOUND
-OPINIONS&mdash;THREE CENTURIES OF SHAME</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> history of Spain assumed a new phase when, at the fall of Granada,
-the attention of potentates and people ceased to be absorbed by the
-excitement of a great religious war. Then the past and the romance of it
-ended and the history of modern Spain began.</p>
-
-<p>Before proceeding with the latter, a name and a tribunal detain
-attention. The one is Torquemada. The other is the Inquisition. Burke
-has described them both, as follows:</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The Inquisition, established in Italy by Honorius III. in 1231, and in
-France by St. Louis in 1233, was formally introduced into Spain by
-Gregory IX. in 1235, by a Rescript of April 30th, addressed to Mongriu,
-Archbishop-Administrator of Tarragona, confirming and explaining
-previous Briefs and Bulls upon the subject of the repression of heresy;
-and prescribing the issue of certain Instructions which had been
-prepared at the desire of his holiness by a Spanish saint, the Dominican
-Raymond of Penafort. From this time forward, Bulls on the subject<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span> of
-the Inquisition into heresy were frequently issued; and the followers of
-Dominic were ever the trusted agents of the Holy See.</p>
-
-<p>The first suggestion of the serious introduction of the Tribunal of the
-Holy Office into Castile, at the end of the fifteenth century, is said
-to have come from Sicily. An Italian friar bearing the suggestive name
-of Dei Barberi, Inquisitor-general at Messina, paid a visit to his
-sovereign Ferdinand at Seville in 1477, in order to procure the
-confirmation of a privilege accorded to the Sicilian Dominicans by the
-Emperor Frederic II., in 1233, by virtue of which the Inquisitors
-entered into possession of one-third of the goods of the heretic whom
-they condemned. This dangerous charter was confirmed in due course by
-Ferdinand on the 2d of September, 1477, and by Isabella on the 18th of
-October; and very little argument was required on the part of the
-gratified envoy to convince his sovereign of the various temporal and
-spiritual advantages that would follow the introduction of the Tribunal,
-that had so long existed in an undeveloped form in Sicily and in Aragon,
-into the dominions of his pious consort, Isabella of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>In the middle of the year 1480 there was as yet no court of the Holy
-Inquisition established in Spain. At length, pressed by the Papal
-Nuncio, by the Dominicans, by her confessor, most of all by her husband,
-Isabella gave her consent; and at length, in August, 1483, the
-Inquisition was established as a permanent tribunal. Tomas de Torquemada
-was appointed Inquisitor-general of both Castile and Aragon. Subordinate
-tribunals were constituted; new and more stringent regulations were
-made; the victims<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> smoked from day to day on the great stone altar of
-the Quemadero.</p>
-
-<p>The life of Tomas de Torquemada is the history of contemporary Spain.
-Born of a noble family, already distinguished in the Church by the
-reputation of the cardinal his uncle, Tomas early assumed the habit of a
-Dominican, and was in course of time appointed prior of an important
-monastery at Segovia, and confessor to the young Princess Isabella. His
-influence upon that royal lady was naturally great; his piety pleased
-her; his austerity affected her; and his powerful will directed, if it
-could not subdue, a will as powerful as his own. Brought up far away
-from a court whose frivolities had no charm for her, and where, under
-any circumstances, she would have been considered as a rival if not a
-pretender, the counsels of her confessor, both sacred and secular, were
-the most authoritative that she could expect to obtain. It has been
-constantly asserted that the friar obtained from the princess a promise
-that, in the event of her elevation to the throne of Castile, she would
-devote herself to the destruction of heretics and the increase of the
-power of the Church. Such a promise would have been but one of many
-which such a confessor would have obtained from such a penitent, and
-would have been but the natural result of his teaching. Nor is it
-surprising that in the intrigues that preceded the death of Henry IV.,
-and the War of Succession that immediately followed it, the whole
-influence of the priesthood should have been cast on the side of
-Isabella and against her niece Joanna. For ten years, says the
-biographer of his Order, the skillful hand of Torquemada cultivated the
-intellect of Isabella; and in due<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span> course the propitious marriage with
-Ferdinand of Aragon, far from removing his pupil from his sacerdotal
-influence, brought him a new and an equally illustrious penitent.
-Torquemada became the confessor of the king as well as of the queen.</p>
-
-<p>If the establishment of the Inquisition was the fulfillment of
-Isabella’s vow, and the realization of the aspirations of her tutor, his
-appointment as Inquisitor-general, although it necessitated the choice
-of another confessor, did not by any means withdraw him from his old
-sphere of influence. He ceased not to preach the destruction of the
-Moslem, even as he was employed about the destruction of the Jew; and if
-Isabella was the active patroness of the war in Granada, there was a
-darker spirit behind the throne, ever preaching the sacred duty of the
-slaughter of the infidel and the heretic of every race and nation.</p>
-
-<p>Torquemada was at once a politician and an enthusiast; rigid, austere,
-uncompromising; unbounded in his ambition, yet content to sacrifice
-himself to the cause that made him what he was. His moral superiority to
-the Innocents and Alexanders at Rome, his intellectual superiority to
-the Carrillos and the fighting bishops of Spain, gave him that enormous
-influence over both queen and king which his consuming bigotry and his
-relentless tenacity of purpose induced him to use with such dreadful
-effect. Aggressive even in his profession of humility, Torquemada was
-insolent, not only to his unhappy victims, but to his colleagues, to his
-sovereigns, to his Holy Father at Rome. He was, perhaps, the only man in
-Europe who was more masterful than Isabella, more bloodthirsty than
-Alexander; and he was able to impose his own will on both queen and
-pope.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span> Rejecting in his proud humility every offer of the miter, he
-asserted and maintained his ecclesiastical supremacy even over the
-Primate of Spain. Attended by a body-guard of noble youths who were glad
-to secure at once the favor of the queen and immunity from
-ecclesiastical censure by assuming the habit of the Familiars of the
-Holy Office, the great destroyer lived in daily dread of the hand of the
-assassin.</p>
-
-<p>Fifty horsemen and two hundred foot-guards always attended him. Nor was
-it deemed inconsistent with the purity of his own religious faith that
-he should carry about with him a talisman, in the shape of the horn of
-some strange animal, invested with the mysterious power of preventing
-the action of poison.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Torquemada in September, 1498, Don Diego Deza was
-promoted to the office of Inquisitor-general of Spain. Yet the activity
-of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal was rather increased than diminished by
-the change of masters, and an attempt was made soon afterward to extend
-its operations to Naples. But Gonsalvo de Cordova, who was then acting
-as viceroy, took upon himself to disregard not only the demands of the
-Inquisitors, but the orders of Ferdinand (June 30, 1504), and to
-postpone the introduction of the new tribunal into the country that he
-so wisely and so liberally governed. After the recall of his great
-representative, some six years later, Ferdinand himself made another
-attempt to establish the hated Tribunal in Italy in 1510. But even
-Ferdinand did not prevail; and Naples retained the happy immunity which
-it owed to the Great Captain.</p>
-
-<p>If no error is more gross than to suppose that the estab<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span>lishment of the
-Inquisition was due to popular feeling in Spain, it is almost equally
-false to assert that it was the work of the contemporary popes. Rome was
-bad enough at the end of the fifteenth century; but her vast load of
-wickedness need not be increased by the burden of sins that are not her
-own. The everlasting shame of the Spanish Inquisition is that of the
-Catholic kings. It is not difficult to understand why the poor and
-rapacious Ferdinand of Aragon should welcome the establishment of an
-instrument of extortion which placed at his disposal the accumulated
-savings of the richest citizens of Castile. It is yet easier to
-comprehend that Isabella, who was not of a temper to brook resistance to
-authority in Church or State, should have consented to what her husband
-so earnestly desired. The queen, moreover, was at least sincerely
-religious, after the fashion of the day; and was constrained to follow
-the dictates of her confessor in matters judged by him to be within his
-spiritual jurisdiction, even while she was, as a civil ruler,
-withstanding the Pope himself on matters of temporal sovereignty.</p>
-
-<p>It is the height of folly to brand Isabella as a hypocrite, because we
-are unable to follow the workings of a medieval mind, or to appreciate
-the curious religious temper&mdash;by no means confined to the men and women
-of the fifteenth century&mdash;that can permit or compel the same person to
-be devoted to Popery and to be at war with the Pope, and find in the
-punctilious observance of ceremonial duty excuse or encouragement for
-the gratification of any vice and the commission of any crime. But that
-the nobility and people of Castile should have permitted the crown to
-impose upon them a foreign and an ecclesiastical des<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span>potism, is at first
-sight much harder to understand. No one reason, but an unhappy
-combination of causes, may perhaps be found to explain it.</p>
-
-<p>The influence of the queen was great. Respected as well as feared by the
-nobles, she was long admired and beloved by the mass of the people.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
-The great success of her administration, which was apparent even by the
-end of 1480; her repression of the nobility; her studied respect for the
-Cortes; all these things predisposed the Castilians, who had so long
-suffered under weak and unworthy sovereigns, to trust themselves not
-only to the justice but to the wisdom of the queen. The influence of the
-clergy, if not so great as it was in France or Italy, was no doubt
-considerable, and, as a rule, though not always, it was cast on the side
-of the Inquisition. Last and most unhappy reason of all, the nobility
-and the people were divided; and, if not actually hostile, were at least
-ever at variance in Castile.</p>
-
-<p>The first efforts of the new tribunal, too, were directed either against
-the converted Jews, of whose prosperity the Christians were already
-jealous, and for whose interested tergiversations no one could feel any
-respect; or against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span> the more or less converted Moslems, toward whom
-their neighbors still maintained a certain hereditary antipathy. The New
-Christians alone were to be haled before the new tribunal. The Old
-Christians might trust in the queen, if not in their own irreproachable
-lineage, to protect them from hurt or harm.</p>
-
-<p>The number of subordinate or subsidiary tribunals of the Holy Office was
-at first only four; established at Seville, Cordova, Jaen, and Ciudad
-Real. The number was gradually increased, during the reign of the
-Catholic kings, to thirteen; and over all these Ferdinand erected, in
-1483, a court of supervision under the name of the Council of the
-Supreme, consisting of the Grand Inquisitor as President, and three
-other subordinate ecclesiastics, well disposed to the crown, and ready
-to guard the royal interests in confiscated property.</p>
-
-<p>One of the first duties of this tremendous Council was the preparation
-of a code of rules or Instructions, based upon the Inquisitor’s Manual
-of Eymeric, which had been promulgated in Aragon in the fourteenth
-century. The new work was promptly and thoroughly done; and twenty-eight
-comprehensive sections left but little to be provided for in the future.</p>
-
-<p>The prosecution of unorthodox Spanish bishops by Torquemada on the
-ground of the supposed backslidings of their respective fathers is
-sufficiently characteristic of the methods of the Inquisition to be
-worthy of a passing notice. Davila, bishop of Segovia, and Aranda,
-bishop of Calahorra, were the sons of Jews who had been converted and
-baptized by St. Vincent Ferrer. No suspicion existed as to the orthodoxy
-of the prelates, both of whom were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span> men distinguished for their learning
-and their piety. But it was suggested that their fathers had relapsed
-into Judaism before they died. They had each, indeed, left considerable
-fortunes behind them: and it was sought to exhume and burn their mortal
-remains, and to declare the property&mdash;long in the enjoyment of their
-heirs and successors&mdash;forfeited to the crown; and, in spite of a brief
-of Innocent VIII., of the 25th of September, 1487, the attempt was made
-by the Spanish Inquisitors. Both prelates sought refuge and protection
-by personal recourse to Rome (1490). Bishop Davila, in spite of the
-urgent remonstrances of Isabella herself, ultimately secured the
-protection of Alexander VI. and was invested with additional dignities
-and honors. Bishop Aranda was less fortunate. He was stripped of his
-office and possessions, and died a prisoner in the castle of St. Angelo
-in 1497.</p>
-
-<p>It was not only living or dying heretics who paid the penalty of their
-unsound opinions. Men long dead, if they were represented by rich
-descendants, were cited before the Tribunal, judged, condemned, and the
-lands and goods that had descended to their heirs passed into the
-coffers of the Catholic kings. The scandal was so great that Isabella
-actually wrote to the Bishop of Segovia to defend herself against an
-accusation that no one had ever presumed to formulate. “I have,” said
-the queen, “caused great calamities, I have depopulated towns and
-provinces and kingdoms, for the love of Christ and of His Holy Mother,
-but I have never touched a maravedi of confiscated property; and I have
-employed the money in educating and dowering the children of the
-condemned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>This strange apology, which seems to have to some extent imposed upon
-Prescott, is shown, by more recent examination of the State papers to be
-a most deliberate and daring falsehood, and would go far to justify the
-suggestion of Bergenroth that if Ferdinand never scrupled to tell direct
-untruths and make false promises whenever he thought it expedient, Queen
-Isabella excelled her husband in “disregard of veracity.”</p>
-
-<p>If the Holy Office had existed in Aragon in an undeveloped state from
-the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, and if it was actually
-introduced into Castile at the suggestion of an Inquisitor of the
-Aragonese island of Sicily, the old independence of the inhabitants once
-more asserted itself when the time arrived for the introduction of the
-brand-new Castilian Tribunal into the old kingdom that is watered by the
-Ebro. Saragossa, indeed, may be nearer to Rome than Toledo; but the
-Catalan has ever been less submissive than his brother or cousin in
-Castile; less obedient to authority; more impatient of royal and
-ecclesiastical oppression. Yet Aragon, which had defied Innocent at
-Muret, and vanquished Martin at Gerona, was no match for the inquisitors
-of Ferdinand the Catholic.</p>
-
-<p>The Inquisition, as we have seen, had once before been established in
-Aragon; but in one most important particular the new institution
-differed from the old. In former days, even in the rare cases when the
-heretic paid the penalty of his heterodoxy with his life, his property
-passed to his heirs. The ecclesiastical tribunal of Ferdinand was not
-only more efficient in the matter of burning or otherwise disposing of
-accused persons; but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> property of all doubtful Catholics, even of
-those who were graciously permitted to live after their trial, was
-absolutely forfeit to the crown. And the number of rich men, not only
-converted Jews but prosperous Christians, whose orthodoxy failed to come
-up to the new standard, was even in those days considered remarkable.</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand at all times hated popular assemblies. He spent the greater
-part of his time in Castile; and he saw as little as possible of the
-people of Aragon. But in April, 1484, he summoned a Cortes at Saragossa,
-and decreed by royal ordinance the establishment of the new tribunal.
-The old constitutional spirit of the Aragonese seems to have evaporated;
-and a degenerate justiciary was found to swear to support the
-jurisdiction of the Inquisitors. Yet envoys and delegates of the Commons
-of Aragon were dispatched to Castile, whither Ferdinand had promptly
-retired, and also to Rome, to remonstrate against the new Institution,
-and more especially against the new provisions for the forfeiture of the
-property of the convicted. If these provisions, contrary to the laws of
-Aragon, were repealed or suspended, the deputies “were persuaded,” and
-there was a grim humor in the suggestion, “that the Tribunal itself
-would soon cease to exist.”</p>
-
-<p>But the repression of heresy was far too profitable an undertaking to be
-lightly abandoned; nor was Ferdinand of Aragon the man to abandon it;
-and the envoys returned from an unsuccessful mission to Valladolid to
-find a Quemadero already blazing at Saragossa.</p>
-
-<p>Yet the Aragonese were not at once reduced to subjection. A popular
-conspiracy led to the assassination of the Inquisitor-general, Pedro de
-Arbues, in spite of his steel<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span> cap and coat of mail, as he stood one day
-at matins in the Cathedral of Saragossa (15th September, 1457); but this
-daring crime served only to enrage Ferdinand and to strengthen the power
-of the Inquisition. A most rigorous and indefatigable inquiry, which was
-extended from Saragossa into every part of Aragon, was at once
-undertaken; and an immense number of victims, chosen not only from among
-the people, but from almost every noble family in Aragon, if it did not
-appease the vengeance of the Inquisitors, gratified at least the avarice
-of Ferdinand. Among the accused, indeed, was Don Jayme of Navarre, a
-nephew of the King of Aragon&mdash;a son of Eleanor, queen of Navarre, and
-her husband, Gaston de Foix&mdash;who was actually arrested and imprisoned by
-the Holy Office; and discharged only after having done public penance,
-as convicted of having in some way sympathized with the assassination of
-Arbues. But it may be noted that the young prince was anything but a
-favorite with his uncle, to whom this bit of ecclesiastical discipline
-was no doubt very gratifying.</p>
-
-<p>But it was not only at Saragossa that opposition was offered to the
-establishment of the new Tribunal. In every part of Aragon and of
-Valencia; at Lerida, at Teruel, at Barcelona, the people rose against
-this new exhibition of royal and priestly tyranny. And it was not for
-fully two years, and after the adoption of the most savage measures of
-repression both royal and ecclesiastical, that the Inquisition was
-finally accepted in the kingdom of Aragon, and that Torquemada,
-fortified by no less than two special Bulls, made his triumphal entry as
-Inquisitor-general into Barcelona on the 27th of October, 1488.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Among all the tens of thousands of innocent persons who were tortured
-and done to death by the Inquisition in Spain, it is instructive to turn
-to the record of one man at least who broke through the meshes of the
-ecclesiastical net that was spread abroad in the country; for the mode
-of his escape is sufficiently instructive. Ready money at command, but
-not exposed to seizure, was the sole shield and safeguard against the
-assaults of Church and State. Don Alfonso de la Caballeria was a Jew by
-race, and a man who was actually concerned in the murder of the
-Inquisitor Arbues; but his great wealth enabled him to purchase not only
-one but two Briefs from Rome, and to secure the further favor of
-Ferdinand. He was accused and prosecuted in vain by the Holy Office of
-Aragon. He not only escaped with his life, but he rose to a high
-position in the State, and eventually mingled his Jewish and heretic
-blood with that of royalty itself.</p>
-
-<p>Various attempts were made by the Commons of Aragon to abate the powers
-of the Inquisition; and at the Cortes of Monzon, in 1510, so vigorous a
-remonstrance was addressed to Ferdinand that he was unable to do more
-than avoid a decision by a postponement on the ground of desiring fuller
-information; and two years later, at the same place, he was compelled to
-sanction a declaration or ordinance, by which the authority assumed by
-the Holy Office, in defiance of the Constitution of Aragon, was
-specifically declared to be illegal; and the king swore to abolish the
-privileges and jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Within a few months,
-however, he caused himself to be absolved from this oath by a Papal
-Brief; and the Inquisition remained unreformed and triumphant. But the
-Aragonese<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> had not yet entirely lost their independence, and a popular
-rising compelled the king not only to renounce the Brief, so lately
-received, but to solicit from the Pope a Bull (May 12, 1515),
-exonerating him from so doing, and calling upon all men, lay and
-ecclesiastical, to maintain the authority of the Cortes. Aragon was
-satisfied. And the people enjoyed for a season the blessings of
-comparative immunity from persecution.</p>
-
-<p>To recall the manifold horrors of the actual working of the Inquisition
-in Spain would be a painful and an odious task. To record them in any
-detail is surely superfluous; even though they are entirely denied by
-such eminent modern writers as Hefele, in Germany, or Menendez Pelayo,
-in Spain. The hidden enemy, the secret denunciation, the sudden arrest,
-the unknown dungeon, the prolonged interrogatory, the hideous torture,
-the pitiless judge, the certain sentence, the cruel execution, the
-public display of sacerdotal vengeance, the plunder of the survivors,
-innocent even of ecclesiastical offense&mdash;all these things are known to
-every reader of every history. All other considerations apart, it is an
-abuse of language to speak of the proceedings before the Inquisition as
-a trial, for the tribunal was nothing but a Board of Conviction. One
-acquittal in two thousand accusations was, according to Llorente, who
-had access to all the records of the Holy Office in Spain, about the
-proportion that was observed in their judicial findings.</p>
-
-<p>Statistics, as a rule, are not convincing, and figures are rarely
-impressive; yet it may be added that, according to Llorente’s cautious
-estimate, over ten thousand persons were burned alive during the
-eighteen years of Torquemad<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span>a’s supremacy alone; that over six thousand
-more were burned in effigy either in their absence or after their death,
-and their property acquired by the Holy Office; while the number of
-those whose goods were confiscated, after undergoing less rigorous
-punishments, is variously computed at somewhat more or somewhat less
-than one hundred thousand. But it is obvious that even these terrible
-figures give but a very feeble idea of the vast sum of human suffering
-that followed the steps of this dreadful institution. For they tell no
-tale of the thousands who died, and the tens of thousands who suffered,
-in the torture chamber. They hardly suggest the anguish of the widow and
-the orphan of the principal victims, who were left, bereaved and
-plundered, to struggle with a hard and unsympathetic world, desolate,
-poor, and disgraced.</p>
-
-<p>Nor does the most exaggerated presentment of human suffering tell of the
-disastrous effects of the entire system upon religion, upon morals, upon
-civil society at large. The terrorism, the espionage, the daily and
-hourly dread of denunciation, in which every honest man and woman must
-have lived, the boundless opportunities for extortion and for the
-gratification of private vengeance and worldly hatred, must have
-poisoned the whole social life of Spain. The work of the Inquisition,
-while it tended, no doubt, to make men orthodox, tended also to make
-them false, and suspicious, and cruel. Before the middle of the
-sixteenth century, the Holy Office had profoundly affected the national
-character; and the Spaniard, who had been celebrated in Europe during
-countless centuries for every manly virtue, became, in the new world
-that had been given to him, no less notorious for a cruelty beyond the
-imagination<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> of a Roman emperor, and a rapacity beyond the dreams of a
-republican proconsul.</p>
-
-<p>Torquemada and Ferdinand may have burned their thousands and plundered
-their ten thousands in Spain. Their disciples put to death millions of
-the gentlest races of the earth, and ravaged without scruple or pity the
-fairest and most fertile regions of the new Continent which had been
-given to them to possess.</p>
-
-<p>As long as the Inquisition confined its operations to the Jews and the
-Moors, the Old Christians were injured and depraved by the development
-of those tendencies to cruelty and rapacity that lie dormant in the
-heart of every man. But this was not the end. For when Spain at length
-sheltered no more aliens to be persecuted and plundered in the name of
-religion, and murder and extortion were forced to seek their easy prey
-in the new world beyond the Atlantic Ocean, the Holy Office turned its
-attention to domestic heresy; and the character of the Spaniard in
-Europe became still further demoralized and perverted. Every man was
-suspected. Every man became suspicious. The lightest word might lead to
-the heaviest accusation. The nation became somber and silent. Religious
-life was but a step removed from heresy. Religion died. Original thought
-was above all things dangerous. The Spaniard took refuge in Routine.
-Social intercourse was obviously full of peril. A prudent man kept
-himself to himself, and was glad to escape the observation of his
-neighbors. Castile became a spiritual desert. The Castilian wrapped
-himself in his cloak, and sought safety in dignified abstraction.</p>
-
-<p>The Holy Office has done its work in Spain. A rapa<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span>cious government, an
-enslaved people, a hollow religion, a corrupt Church, a century of
-blood, three centuries of shame, all these things followed in its wake.
-And the country of Viriatus and Seneca, of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius,
-where Ruy Diaz fought, and Alfonso studied, and where two warrior kings
-in two successive centuries defied Rome temporal and Rome spiritual, and
-all the crusaders of Europe&mdash;Spain, hardly conquered by Scipio or by
-Cæsar, was enslaved by the dead hand of Dominic.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THEIR CATHOLIC MAJESTIES</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE BANISHMENT OF THE JEWS&mdash;INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS&mdash;THE SPANIARDS IN
-ITALY&mdash;THE VICTORIES OF GONSALVO&mdash;THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> fall of Granada left the Catholic sovereigns free to turn their
-attention more completely to the domestic affairs of the kingdom; and it
-seems moreover to have increased the bigotry both of the Church and of
-the Court, and to have added new zeal to the fury of the Inquisition.</p>
-
-<p>The conquest of the Moorish kingdom was said by pious ecclesiastics to
-be a special sign or manifestation of the approval by Heaven of the
-recent institution of the Holy Office. The knights and nobles, proud of
-their military successes, may have attributed the victory to causes more
-flattering to their valor, their skill, and their perseverance. The
-common people, as yet not demoralized, but gorged with plunder, and
-invited to occupy without purchase the fairest province in the
-Peninsula, were little disposed to quarrel with the policy of Ferdinand;
-and far from feeling any pity for the sufferings of the vanquished
-Moors, they sighed for new infidels to pillage. And new infidels were
-promptly found.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Inquisition so far had troubled itself but little with Christian
-heretics. The early Spanish Protestantism of the thirteenth century had
-died away. The later Spanish Protestantism of the sixteenth century had
-not yet come into existence. Few men had done more than Averroes of
-Cordova and Ramon Lull of Palma to awaken religious thought in Medieval
-Europe; yet speculative theology has never been popular among the
-Spanish people. It was against the Jews, renegade or relapsed, even more
-than the avowedly unconverted, that the Holy Office directed all its
-exertions until the end of the fifteenth century. By April, 1492,
-although a great number of the unfortunate Hebrews had already found
-their way to the Quemadero, there was still a very large Jewish
-population in Spain, the most industrious, the most intelligent, the
-most orderly, but, unhappily for themselves, the most wealthy of all the
-inhabitants of the Peninsula.</p>
-
-<p>The Spanish Jews, as we have seen, were treated on the arrival of the
-Arab conquerors not only with consideration, but with an amount of favor
-that was not extended to them under any other government in the world;
-nor was this wise liberality, as time went on, displayed only by the
-Moslem in Spain. At the Christian courts of Leon, of Castile, and of
-Catalonia, the Jews were welcomed as lenders of money and as healers of
-diseases, and as men skilled in many industrial arts; and they supplied
-what little science was required in northern Spain, while their brethren
-shared in the magnificent culture and extended studies of Cordova. When
-the rule of the Arab declined, and Alfonso el Sabio held his court at
-southern Seville, the learned Jews were his chosen companions. They
-certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span> assisted him in the preparation of his great astronomical
-tables. They probably assisted him in his translation of the Bible.</p>
-
-<p>Nor does this court favor appear to have caused any serious jealousy
-among Christian Spaniards. The fellow-student of Alfonso X., the trusted
-treasurer of Peter the Cruel, the accommodating banker of many a king
-and many a noble&mdash;the Jew was for some time a personage of importance
-rather than a refugee in the Peninsula. And during the whole of the
-thirteenth century, while the Jews were exposed throughout western
-Europe to the most dreadful and systematic persecutions, they enjoyed in
-Spain not only immunity, but protection, not only religious freedom, but
-political consideration.</p>
-
-<p>Under Alfonso XI. they were particularly regarded, and even under Peter
-the Cruel, who, though he tortured and robbed his Hebrew treasurer, did
-not at any time display his natural ferocity in any form of religious
-persecution. Yet, as we are told that his rival and successor, Henry of
-Trastamara, sought popular favor by molesting the Jews, it would seem
-that already by the end of the fourteenth century they were becoming
-unpopular in Castile. But on the whole, throughout the Peninsula, from
-the time of James I. of Aragon, who is said to have studied ethics under
-a Jewish professor, to the time of John II. of Castile, who employed a
-Jewish secretary in the compilation of a national “Cancionero,” or
-ballad book, the Jews were not only distinguished, but encouraged, in
-literature and abstract science, as they had always been in the more
-practical pursuits of medicine and of commerce.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But in less than a century after the death of Alfonso X. the tide of
-fortune had turned. Their riches increased overmuch in a disturbed and
-impoverished commonwealth, and public indignation began to be displayed,
-rather at their un-Christian opulence than at their Jewish faith.
-Inquisition was made rather into their strongboxes than into their
-theology; and it was their debtors and their rivals, rather than any
-religious purists, who, toward the end of the fourteenth century, and
-more especially in Aragon, stirred up those popular risings against
-their race that led to the massacres and the wholesale conversions of
-1391. The first attack that was made upon the persons and property of
-the Jews was in 1388, and it was no doubt provoked by the preaching of
-the fanatic archdeacon Hernando Martinez at Seville. But it was in
-nowise religious in its character, and was aimed chiefly at the
-acquisition and destruction of the property of the rich and prosperous
-Hebrews. The outbreaks which took place almost simultaneously in all
-parts of Spain were disapproved both by kings and councils. Special
-judges were sent to the disturbed cities, and a considerable amount of
-real protection was extended to the plundered people. No one said a word
-about conversion; or at least the conversion was that of ancient Pistol,
-the conversion of the property of the Jews into the possession of the
-Christians. When the Jewish quarter of Barcelona was sacked by the
-populace, and an immense number of Hebrews were despoiled and massacred
-throughout the country, John of Aragon, indolent though he was, used his
-utmost endeavors to check the slaughter. He punished the aggressors, and
-he even caused a res<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span>titution of goods to be made to such of the victims
-as survived.</p>
-
-<p>The preaching of St. Vincent Ferrer, during the early part of the
-fifteenth century, was addressed largely to the Jews in Spain, but
-little or no religious persecution seems to have been directed against
-them in consequence of his harangues. On the contrary, we read of
-friendly conferences or public disputations between Jewish and Christian
-doctors in Aragon, where the Inquisition was, at least, nominally
-established. Such conferences could hardly be expected to convince or
-convert the advocates of either faith, but they tell at least of an
-amount of toleration on the part of the Christian authorities of the day
-that was certainly not to be found in Spain at the close of the century;
-and there is no doubt that they were followed by a very large number of
-conversions of the more malleable members of the Hebrew community. But
-it is a far cry from St. Vincent Ferrer to the uncanonized Tomas de
-Torquemada.</p>
-
-<p>Yet, even in outward conformity to the established religion, the Jews,
-as time went on, found no permanent safety from persecution and plunder.
-John II. indeed had little of the bigot in his composition; it was
-Politics and not Persecution that, under his successor, engrossed the
-attention of clergy and laity in Castile; but, as soon as the power of
-Isabella was formally established, the destruction of all that was not
-orthodox, Catholic, and Spanish became the keynote of the domestic
-policy of the new government of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The earliest efforts of the Spanish Inquisition were directed, as we
-have seen, almost exclusively against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span> those converted Jews, or the sons
-and daughters of converts, who were known by the expressive name of New
-Christians, a title applied also to Christianized Moslems, and which
-distinguished both classes from the Old Christians or Cristianos Viejos,
-who could boast of a pure Castilian ancestry. These New Christians, as a
-whole, at the end of the fifteenth century, were among the richest, the
-most industrious, and the most intelligent of the population, and they
-were regarded with considerable envy by their poorer neighbors, whose
-blue blood did not always bring with it either wealth or fortune. The
-Rules and Regulations for the guidance of the Inquisitors were therefore
-specially framed to include every possible act or thought that might
-bring the members of the classes specially aimed at within the deadly
-category of the Relapsed. If the “New Christian” wore a clean shirt, or
-spread clean table-linen on a Saturday (Art. 4), if he ate meat in Lent
-(7), observed any of the Jewish fasts (8-17), or sat at table with any
-Jew of his acquaintance (19); if he recited one of the Psalms of David
-without the addition of the Doxology (20), if he caused his child to be
-baptized under a Hebrew name (23), he was to be treated as a renegade
-and condemned to the flames.</p>
-
-<p>With every act of his life thus at the mercy of spies and informers, his
-last end was not unobserved by the Dominicans and the Familiars of the
-Holy Office. If in the article of death he turned his weary face (31) to
-the wall of his chamber, he was adjudged relapsed, and all his
-possessions were forfeit; or if the sorrowing children of even the most
-unexceptionable convert had washed his dead body with warm water (32)
-they were to be treated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span> as apostates and heretics, and were at least
-liable to suffer death by fire, after their goods had been appropriated
-by the Holy Office or by the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>In the sentences which condemned to the stake, to confiscation, and to
-penances which were punishments of the severest description, we find
-enumerated such offenses as the avoiding the use of fat, and especially
-of lard; preparing amive, a kind of broth much appreciated by the Jews;
-or eating “Passover bread”; reading, or even possessing, a Hebrew Bible;
-ignorance of the Pater noster and the Creed; saying that a good Jew
-could be saved, and a thousand other equally harmless deeds or words.</p>
-
-<p>But with the professed and avowed Jew, unpopular as he may have been
-with his neighbors, and exposed at times to various forms of civil and
-religious outrage, the Holy Office did not directly concern itself. The
-Hebrew, like the Moslem, was outside the pale even of Christian inquiry.</p>
-
-<p>There is no doubt that it was the success of the operations against the
-Moors of Granada that suggested to Ferdinand and Isabella the
-undertaking of a campaign, easier by far, and scarcely less lucrative,
-against the unhappy descendants of Abraham who had made their home in
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The annual revenue that was derived by the Catholic sovereigns from the
-confiscations of the Inquisition amounted to a considerable income; and
-the source as yet showed no signs of drying up. Yet cupidity, marching
-hand in hand with intolerance&mdash;the Devil, as the Spanish proverb has it,
-ever lurking behind the Cross<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span>&mdash;the sovereigns resolved upon the
-perpetration of an act of State more dreadful than the most
-comprehensive of the Autos da Fe.</p>
-
-<p>The work of the Holy Office was too slow. The limits of the Quemadero
-were too small. Half a million Jews yet lived unbaptized in Spain. They
-should be destroyed at a single blow. The Inquisition might be left to
-reckon with the New Christians whose conversion was unsatisfactory.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as the Spanish Jews obtained an intimation of what was
-contemplated against them, they took steps to propitiate the sovereigns
-by the tender of a donative of thirty thousand ducats, toward defraying
-the expenses of the Moorish war; and an influential Jewish leader is
-said to have waited upon Ferdinand and Isabella, in their quarters at
-Santa Fe, to urge the acceptance of the bribe. The negotiations,
-however, were suddenly interrupted by Torquemada, who burst into the
-apartment where the sovereigns were giving audience to the Jewish
-deputy, and drawing forth a crucifix from beneath his mantle, held it
-up, exclaiming, “Judas Iscariot sold his master for thirty pieces of
-silver; Your Highnesses would sell him anew for thirty thousand; here he
-is, take him and barter him away.” The extravagant presumption of the
-Inquisitor-general would not perhaps have been as successful as it was
-had it not been obvious to the rapacious Ferdinand that thirty thousand
-ducats was a trifle compared with the plunder of the entire body of Jews
-in Spain. Yet the action of Torquemada was no doubt calculated to affect
-the superstitious mind of Isabella, and even the colder spirit of
-Ferdinand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Whatever may have been the scruples of the Spanish sovereigns, the
-fanaticism of the Spanish people had been at this critical juncture
-stirred up to an unusual pitch of fury by the proceedings and reports of
-the Holy Office in a case which has attracted an amount of attention so
-entirely disproportionate to its apparent importance that it merits
-something more than a passing notice.</p>
-
-<p>In June, 1490, a converted Jew of the name of Benito Garcia, on his way
-back from a pilgrimage to Compostella, was waylaid and robbed near
-Astorga, by some of the Christian inhabitants. A Jew, converted or
-otherwise, was a legitimate object of plunder. The contents of his
-knapsack not being entirely satisfactory, and the ecclesiastical
-authorities sniffing sacrilege in what was supposed to be a piece of the
-consecrated wafer, Garcia, and not the robbers, was arrested, subjected
-to incredible tortures, and finally handed over to the local
-inquisitors.</p>
-
-<p>His case was heard with that of other Conversos; first at Segovia and
-afterward at Avila. Tortures were repeated. Spies were introduced in
-various guises and disguises, but no confession could be extorted.</p>
-
-<p>At length, after a year and a half of such practices, the endurance of
-one of the accused gave way&mdash;the dreadful story affords some slight
-notion of the methods of the Inquisition&mdash;and the unhappy man invented a
-tale in accordance with what was demanded of him; the crucifixion of a
-Christian child; the tearing out of his heart, the theft of the Host
-from a Christian Church, and a magical incantation over the dreadful
-elements, directed against Christianity, and more particularly against
-the Holy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span> Office. The Tribunal having been thus satisfied of the guilt
-of the accused, a solemn Auto da Fe was held at Avila, on the 16th of
-November, 1491, when two of the convicts were torn to death with red-hot
-pincers; three who had been more mercifully permitted to die under the
-preliminary tortures were burned in effigy; while the remaining
-prisoners were visited only with the slight punishment of strangulation
-before their consignment to the inevitable fire. That no boy, with or
-without a heart, could be found or invented, by the most rigorous
-examination; that no Christian child had disappeared from the
-neighborhood of the unhappy Jews at the time of their arrest&mdash;this
-surprised no one. In matters of Faith such evidences were wholly
-superfluous. Secura judícat Ecclesia.</p>
-
-<p>That these poor Hebrews should have suffered torture and death for an
-imaginary sacrilege upon the person of an imaginary boy was indeed a
-thing by no means unexampled in the history of religious fanaticism. But
-the sequel is certainly extraordinary. With a view of exciting the
-indignation of the sovereigns and of the people against the Jews at an
-important moment, Torquemada devoted much attention to the publication
-throughout Spain of the dreadful story of the murdered boy, the Niño of
-La Guardia, the village where the crime is supposed to have taken place.
-As to the name of the victim, the authorities did not agree. Some
-maintained that it was Christopher, while others declared for John. But
-the recital of the awful wickedness of the Jews lost none of its force
-by adverse criticism. The legend spread from altar to altar throughout
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span>the country. The Niño de la Guardia at once became a popular hero, in
-course of time a popular saint; miracles were freely worked upon the
-spot where his remains had not been found, and something over a century
-later (1613) his canonization was demanded at Rome.</p>
-
-<p>His remains, it was asserted by Francisco de Quevedo, could not be found
-on earth, only because his body as well as his soul had been
-miraculously carried up to heaven, where it was the most powerful
-advocate and protector of the Spanish monarchy. The story, moreover, has
-been twice dramatized&mdash;once by Lope de Vega&mdash;and no less than three
-admiring biographies of this imaginary martyr have been published in
-Spain within the last forty years of this nineteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>At length from conquered Granada, on the 30th of March, 1492, the
-dreadful edict went forth. By the 30th of July not a Jew was to be left
-alive in Spain. Sisenand, indeed, nine hundred years before, had
-promulgated such an edict. But the Visigoth had been too tender-hearted
-to enforce it. Isabella, whose gentleness and goodness historians are
-never tired of applauding, was influenced by no such considerations, and
-the sentence was carried out to the letter. With a cruel irony, the
-banished people were permitted to sell their property, yet forbidden to
-carry the money out of the kingdom, a provision which has obtained the
-warm approval of more than one modern Spanish historian, by whom it is
-accepted as a conclusive proof that this wholesale depopulation did not
-and could not diminish the wealth of Spain!</p>
-
-<p>Thus two hundred thousand Spaniards, men, women, and children of tender
-years, rich and poor, men of refinement and of position, ladies reared
-in luxury, the aged, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span> sick, the infirm, all were included in one
-common destruction, and were driven, stripped of everything, from their
-peaceful homes, to die on their way to some less savage country. For the
-sentence was carried out with the most relentless ferocity. Every road
-to the coast, we read, was thronged with the unhappy fugitives,
-struggling to carry off some shred of their ruined homes. To succor them
-was death; to pillage them was piety. At every seaport, rapacious
-shipmasters exacted from the defenseless travelers the greater part of
-their remaining possessions, as the price of a passage to some
-neighboring coast; and in many cases the passenger was tossed overboard
-ere the voyage was completed, and his goods confiscated to the crew. A
-rumor having got abroad that the fugitives were in the habit of
-swallowing jewels and gold pieces in order to evade the royal decree,
-thousands of unhappy beings were ripped up by the greedy knife of the
-enemy, on land or sea, on the chance of discovering in their mutilated
-remains some little store of treasure.</p>
-
-<p>And thus, north, south, east, and west, the Jews straggled and struggled
-over Spain; and undeterred by the manifold terrors of the sea, a vast
-multitude of exiles, whose homes in Spain once lay in sunny Andalusia,
-sought and found an uncertain abiding place in neighboring Africa.</p>
-
-<p>Of all Christian countries, it was in neighboring Portugal that the
-greatest number of the exiles found refuge and shelter; until, after
-five brief years of peace and comparative prosperity, the heavy hand of
-Castilian intolerance once more descended upon them, and they were
-driven out of the country, at the bidding of Isabella<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span> and her too
-dutiful daughter, the hope of Portugal and of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>But to every country in Europe the footsteps of some of the sufferers
-were directed. Not a few were permitted to abide in Italy and Southern
-France; some of the most distinguished found a haven in England; many
-were fortunate enough to reach the Ottoman dominions, where, under the
-tolerant government of the Turk, they lived and prospered, and where
-their descendants, at many of the more important seaports of the Levant,
-are still found to speak the Castilian of their forefathers.</p>
-
-<p>That the edict of banishment was meant to be, as it so constantly was, a
-doom of death, and not merely a removal of heretics, is clear from the
-action of the Spanish sovereigns, who, at the instigation of Torquemada,
-procured from the pliant Innocent VIII. a Bull enjoining the authorities
-of every country in Christian Europe to arrest and send back to Spain
-all <i>fugitive</i> Jews under penalty of the Greater Excommunication.</p>
-
-<p>More than once, indeed, the demand for extradition was made. But save in
-the case of the Portuguese Jews, on the second marriage of the Princess
-Isabella to the reigning sovereign of that country, no foreign prince
-appears to have paid any heed to this savage edict. Nor was it, as a
-rule, of any material advantage, either at Rome or at Seville, that it
-should be put in force.</p>
-
-<p>Avarice was perhaps the besetting sin of Rome in the fifteenth century;
-nor was bigotry unknown throughout Western Europe. But in Spain, as the
-century drew to a close, avarice and bigotry joined hand in hand, and
-flourished under royal and noble patronage, preached by religion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span>
-practiced by policy, and applauded by patriotism. It was not strange
-that, under such teaching, the people of Castile should have rapidly
-become demoralized, and that the great race should have begun to develop
-that sordid and self-satisfied savagery which disgraced the name of the
-Spaniard, in the heartless and short-sighted plunder of the new world
-that lay before him.</p>
-
-<p>Yet in all human affairs there is something that too often escapes our
-observation, to explain, if not to excuse, what may seem the most
-dreadful aberrations of the better nature of man. And it may be that the
-uncompromising religious spirit, which has had so enormous an influence
-for evil and for good upon the Spanish people, is to some extent the
-result of their Semitic environment of eight hundred years.</p>
-
-<p>Religious controversy indeed, between rival branches of the Christian
-Church in the days of the Visigoths, developed religious animosities
-before the first Moslem landed at Tarifa; yet the Arab and the Moor,
-fired with the enthusiasm of a new and living faith, brought into their
-daily life in Spain, in peace and in war, a deep and all-pervading
-religious spirit&mdash;an active recognition of the constant presence of one
-true God&mdash;unknown to the Roman or the Visigoth, which must have had an
-enormous influence upon the grave and serious Spaniards who lived under
-the rule of the Arab.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was the Moslem the only factor in this medieval development. In no
-other country in Europe was the Jew, as we have seen, more largely
-represented, and more powerful, for the first fifteen centuries of our
-era, than in Spain, whether under Christian or Moslem mas<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span>ters. But the
-direct and simple monotheism of the Hebrew and the Arab, while it had so
-great a direct influence upon Spanish Christianity, provoked as part of
-the natural antagonism to the methods of the rival and the enemy, the
-counter development of an excessive Hagiolatry, Mariolatry, and
-Sacerdotalism.</p>
-
-<p>It would be strange enough if the religious fervor which doomed to death
-and torment so many tens of thousands of Semites in Spain should be
-itself of Semitic suggestion. It is hardly less strange that the Greek
-Renaissance, which revolutionized the Christian world, and whose
-anti-Semitic influence to the present day is nowhere more marked than in
-every department of religious thought, should by the irony of fate have
-been forestalled by a writer, at once Spanish and Semitic; and when, by
-the sixteenth century, the rest of modern Europe had been led by the
-teaching of Averroes to accept the philosophy of Aristotle, Spain, the
-earliest home of Hellenism, new born in Europe, had already turned again
-to a religious Philistinism or Phariseeism of the hardest and most
-uncompromising type, Semitic in its thoroughness, Greek only in its
-elaborate accessories, and Spanish in its uncompromising rigor.</p>
-
-<p>Thus it was that the Arab and the Jew, parents, in some sense, of the
-religious spirit of Ximenez and of Torquemada, became themselves the
-objects of persecution more bitter than is to be found in the annals of
-any other European nation. The rigors of the Spanish Inquisition, and
-the policy that inspired and justified it, are not to be fully explained
-by the rapacity of Ferdinand, the bigotry of Isabella, the ambition of
-Ximenez, or the cruelty of Torquemada. They were in a manner the
-rebellion or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span> outbreak of the old Semitic spirit against the Semite, the
-ignorant jealousy of the wayward disciple against the master whose
-teaching has been but imperfectly and unintelligently
-assimilated&mdash;perverted, distorted, and depraved by the human or devilish
-element which is to be found in all religions, and which seems ever
-striving to destroy the better, and to develop the worser part of the
-spiritual nature of man.</p>
-
-<p>We now enter upon a period of European history which is but feebly
-characterized by the term interesting, and which has been too accurately
-chronicled and too severely investigated to be called romantic; when a
-well-founded jealousy, or fear of the growing power of France, alone
-supplies the key to the ever-changing foreign policy of the sovereigns
-of Spain. Genuine State papers of the fifteenth century are by no means
-numerous. In such of them, however, as are still extant, we find the
-fear expressed over and over again that the kings of France would render
-themselves “masters of the world,” would “establish a universal empire,”
-or “subject the whole of Christendom to their dictation.” The best means
-to avert such a danger appeared to contemporary statesmen to be the
-foundation of another European State as a counterpoise. Ferdinand the
-Catholic, ambitious, diplomatic, and capable, was the first prince who
-undertook the enterprise.</p>
-
-<p>Within less than three years after the Inquisition had been established
-at Seville, Louis XI. of France, the old rival and colleague of John II.
-of Aragon, had died in Paris, August 30, 1483. He was succeeded by his
-son Charles VIII., a young prince whose ignorance was only equaled by
-his vanity, and was if possible exceeded by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span> presumption. With such
-an antagonist, Ferdinand of Aragon was well fitted to deal, with
-advantage to himself and to Spain. To win over the Duchess of Bourbon,
-who had virtually succeeded to the government of France on the death of
-Louis XI., and to marry his eldest daughter Isabella to the young King
-Charles VIII., were accordingly the first objects of his negotiations.
-But in spite of all the flattery lavished on the duchess, Ferdinand did
-not succeed in obtaining the crown for the Infanta. A more richly
-dowered bride was destined for the King of France, to whom the
-acquisition of the province of Brittany was of far greater importance
-than the doubtful friendship of Spain; and after much public and private
-negotiation, the Spanish embassador was reluctantly withdrawn from Paris
-in the summer of 1487 (29th of July).</p>
-
-<p>Disappointed in his dealing with the court of France, the ever-watchful
-and persistent Ferdinand turned his eyes to England; and in the last
-days of the year 1487 an embassador from the Spanish sovereigns,
-Roderigo de Puebla, doctor of canon and civil law, arrived at the court
-of London. Henry VII., who greatly desired to establish a closer
-alliance with Spain, succeeded in flattering the new envoy, and
-rendering him almost from the first subservient to his personal
-interests. Yet the King of England and the Spanish embassador together
-were no match for Ferdinand of Aragon. The negotiations between the
-sovereigns were prolonged for two years, and in the end Henry was
-worsted at every point. He had signed a treaty of offensive alliance
-with Spain against France, with which power he wisely desired to
-maintain friendly relations, and he had been prevailed upon to send some
-English troops into Brittany to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span> co-operate with a Spanish contingent
-which never arrived, in the expulsion of the French from that country.
-He had concluded further treaties of friendship and alliance with the
-King of the Romans, who was actually encouraging Perkin Warbeck to
-assert his claim to the crown of England, and with the Archduke Philip,
-whom he personally and independently hated. And he had been forced to
-content himself with the promise of a very modest dowry with the Spanish
-princess who was affianced to his son Arthur, Prince of Wales.</p>
-
-<p>Relatively too, as well as positively, he had been falsely borne in
-hand. Maximilian, who had been no less ready than Henry with his
-promises to Ferdinand, did not send a single soldier into Brittany, but
-endeavored to overreach Henry, Charles, and Ferdinand by a hasty
-marriage&mdash;by proxy&mdash;with the young duchess, without the consent or
-knowledge of either England or Spain. Yet this diplomatic victory over
-the very astute Englishman did not satisfy Ferdinand and Isabella, who,
-fearful lest they should “become the victims of their honesty” if they
-permitted Maximilian to surpass them in political perfidy, immediately
-renewed secret negotiations with France, and declared themselves ready
-to abandon the king, the duchess, and the emperor. Charles, they
-promised, should obtain what he wished, without risking the life of a
-single soldier, if only he would marry a Spanish Infanta. And they
-offered him, not Isabella, their eldest born, but their second daughter,
-Joanna.</p>
-
-<p>Charles, however, had other views, and finding no cohesion or certainty
-in Ferdinand’s league against him, strengthened his cause and his
-kingdom by marrying<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span> the Duchess Anne of Brittany himself, and uniting
-her hereditary dominions forever to the crown of France, a fair stroke
-of policy for a foolish sovereign in the midst of crafty and
-unscrupulous adversaries. (December 13, 1491.)</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand replied by calling on Henry VII. to fulfill his engagements
-and invade France. Henry accordingly, on the 1st of October, 1492,
-landed an army at Calais, and marched on Boulogne; while Ferdinand,
-without striking a blow either for Spain or for England, took advantage
-of the English expedition to extort from the fears and folly of Charles
-VIII. the favorable conditions of peace and alliance that were embodied
-in the celebrated Convention which was signed at Barcelona on the 19th
-of January, 1493. By this instrument it was provided that each of the
-high contracting parties should mutually aid each other against all
-enemies, the Vicar of Christ alone excepted, that the Spanish sovereigns
-should not enter into an alliance with any other power, to the prejudice
-of the interests of France, and finally, that the coveted provinces of
-Roussillon and Cerdagne, whose recovery had long been one of the chief
-objects of Ferdinand’s ambition, should be immediately handed over to
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The services of England being no longer needed by the peninsular
-sovereigns, Ferdinand abruptly broke off all further negotiations with
-Henry VII.; the signatures of Ferdinand and Isabella to the treaty which
-had already been ratified were disposed of by the simple but effective
-expedient of cutting them out of the parchment with a pair of scissors;
-and the contract of marriage between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and the
-Infanta Catharine&mdash;hav<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span>ing served its immediate diplomatic purpose&mdash;was
-removed, for the time being,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> from the sphere of practical politics.</p>
-
-<p>It is sufficiently characteristic of both parties, that in the treaty of
-Barcelona, between Charles and Ferdinand, Naples, the true objective of
-the young king of France, was not even mentioned. Ferdinand, well
-content with the immediate advantages obtained by the treaty, was by no
-means imposed upon by such vain reticence, while Charles, pluming
-himself upon the success of his diplomacy in his treaties with England,
-with Spain, and with the empire, looked forward to establishing himself
-without opposition on the throne of Naples, on his way to assume the
-Imperial purple at Constantinople.</p>
-
-<p>The kingdom of Naples, on the death of Alfonso the Magnanimous of
-Aragon, had passed, we have already seen, to his illegitimate son
-Ferdinand, who proved to be a tyrant of the worst Italian type,
-worthless, contemptible and uninteresting. To expel this hated monarch,
-for whom not one of his Neapolitan subjects would have been found to
-strike a blow in anger, seemed but a chivalrous and agreeable pastime to
-the vain and ignorant youth who had succeeded Louis XI. upon the throne
-of France. His more experienced neighbors indeed smiled with some
-satisfaction at his presumption. Yet, strange to say, the judgment of
-the vain and ignorant youth was just; and the wise men, who ridiculed
-his statesmanship, and scoffed at his military ineptitude, were doomed
-to great and astounding disappointment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Before the French preparations for the invasion of Italy were fairly
-completed, in the early spring of 1494, Ferdinand of Naples died, and
-was succeeded by his son Alfonso I., the cousin-german of Ferdinand of
-Aragon. This change of rulers altered in no way the wild schemes of
-Charles of France, nor, although the new king of Naples was far less
-odious than his father had been in his own dominions, did it make any
-important change in the condition of Italian politics. By the month of
-June, 1494, the French preparations were so far advanced that Charles
-judged it opportune to acquaint his Spanish allies with his designs on
-Naples, and to solicit their active co-operation in his undertaking.</p>
-
-<p>That Ferdinand should, under any possible circumstances, have been found
-to spend the blood and treasure of Spain in assisting any neighbor,
-stranger, or ally, in any enterprise, without direct advantage to
-himself, was a supposition entirely extravagant. But that he should
-assist a feather-headed Frenchman to dispossess a son of Aragon of a
-kingdom from which his own ancestors had thrice driven a French
-pretender, and where, if any change were to be made in the sovereignty,
-his own rights of succession were far superior to the shadowy claims
-derived from the hated Angevins: this was a thing so grotesquely
-preposterous that it is hard to suppose that even Charles of France
-should have regarded it as being within the bounds of possibility.
-Ferdinand contented himself for the moment with expressions of
-astonishment and offers of good advice, while Charles pushed forward his
-preparations for the invasion of Italy. Don Alfonso de Silva, dispatched
-by the court of Spain as a special envoy, came up with the French army<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span>
-at Vienne, on the Rhone, toward the end of June, 1494. But he was
-instructed rather to seek, than to convey, intelligence of any sort; nor
-was it to be supposed that his grave remonstrances or his diplomatic
-warnings should have had much effect upon the movements of an army that
-was already on the march.</p>
-
-<p>In August, 1494, thirty thousand men, hastily equipped, yet well
-provided with the new and dreadful weapon that was then first spoken of
-as a cannon, crossed the Alps, and prepared to fight their way to
-Naples. But no enemy appeared to oppose their progress. The various
-States of Italy, jealous of one another, if not actually at war, were
-unable or unwilling to combine against the invader; the roads were
-undefended; the troops fled; the citizens of the isolated cities opened
-their gates, one after the other, at the approach of the strange and
-foreign invader. The French army, in fine, after a leisurely promenade
-militaire through the heart of Italy, marched unopposed into Rome on the
-last day of the year 1494.</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand and Isabella had, in the first instance, offered no serious
-opposition to the French enterprise, which appeared to them to be
-completely impracticable; and they had awaited with diplomatic
-equanimity the apparently inevitable disaster, which, without the loss
-of a single Spanish soldier or the expenditure of a single maravedi,
-would at once have served all the purposes of Ferdinand, and permitted
-him to maintain his reputation for goodwill toward Charles, which might
-have been useful in future negotiations. The astonishing success of the
-French invasion took the Spanish sovereigns completely by surprise, and
-it became necessary for Ferdinand to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span> adopt, without haste, but with
-prudent promptitude, a new policy at once toward France and toward the
-various parties in Italy.</p>
-
-<p>The boldest and the most capable of all the sovereigns of Italy, in
-these trying times, was the Spanish Pontiff, who by a singular fate has
-been made, as it were, the whipping boy for the wickedness of nineteen
-centuries of popes at Rome, and who is known to every schoolboy and
-every scribbler as the infamous Alexander VI. Roderic Lenzuoli, or
-Llançol, was the son of a wealthy Valencian gentleman, by Juana, a
-sister of the more distinguished Alfonso Borja, bishop of his native
-city of Valencia.</p>
-
-<p>Born at Valencia about 1431, Roderic gave evidence from his earliest
-years of a remarkable strength of character, and of uncommon
-intellectual powers. While still a youth, he won fame and fortune as an
-advocate. But his impatient nature chafed at the moderate restraint of a
-lawyer’s gown; and he was on the point of adopting a military career,
-when the election of his uncle to the Supreme Pontificate as Calixtus
-III. in 1455 opened for him the way to a more glorious future. At the
-instance of the new Pope, Roderic adopted his mother’s name, in the
-Italian form already so well known and distinguished at the court of
-Rome, and taking with him his beautiful mistress, Rosa Vanozza, whose
-mother he had formerly seduced, he turned his back upon his native
-Valencia, and sought the fortune that awaited him at the capital of the
-world.</p>
-
-<p>Unusually handsome in person, vigorous in mind and body, masterful,
-clever, eloquent, unscrupulous, absolutely regardless of all laws, human
-or divine, in the gratification of his passions and the accomplishment
-of his designs, Rod<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span>eric, the Pope’s nephew, was a man made for success
-in the society in which he was to find himself at Rome. On his arrival
-at the Papal court in 1456 he was received with great kindness by his
-uncle, and was soon created Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal of St.
-Nicholas <i>in Carcere Tulliano</i>, and Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman
-Church. On the death of Calixtus in 1458, the Cardinal Roderic Borgia
-sank into comparative insignificance; and during the reigns of Pius II.,
-Paul II., Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII. we hear little of him but that
-he was distinguished for his amours, for his liberality in the disposal
-of his fortune, and for his attention to public business. Having thus
-secured the goodwill of many of the cardinals and the affection of the
-Roman people, he had no difficulty, on the death of Innocent VIII. in
-July, 1492, in making a bargain with a majority of the members of the
-Sacred College, in accordance with which he was elected Pope, and took
-the title of Alexander VI. on the 26th of August, 1492.</p>
-
-<p>His election was received by the Roman people with the utmost
-satisfaction, and celebrated with all possible demonstrations of joy.
-His transcendent abilities and his reckless methods could not fail to
-render him obnoxious to his companions and his rivals in Italy; but it
-is due rather to his foreign origin, his Valencian independence of
-character, and above all his insolent avoidance of hypocrisy in the
-affairs of his private life, that he has been made a kind of
-ecclesiastical and Papal scapegoat, a Churchman upon whose enormous
-vices Protestant controversialists are never tired of dilating, and
-whose private wickedness is ingenuously admitted by Catholic apologists
-as valuable for the purposes of casuistic illustration, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span> the one
-instance of a divinely infallible judge whose human nature yet remained
-mysteriously impure, and whose personal or individual actions may be
-admitted to have been objectively blamable.</p>
-
-<p>To measure the relative depths of human infamy is an impossible as well
-as an ungrateful task. It is not given to mortals to know the secrets of
-the heart. But bad as Alexander undoubtedly was, he was possibly no
-worse than many of his contemporaries in the Consistory, less wicked
-than some of his predecessors at the Vatican. The guilt of greater and
-more vigorous natures passes for superlative infamy with the crowd; but
-when dispassionately compared with that of his immediate predecessors,
-Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII., the character of Alexander VI. is in
-almost every respect less flagitious and more admirable.</p>
-
-<p>So unblushing was the venality of the Holy See in the fourteenth century
-that sacred dialecticians and jurists of high authority were found
-seriously to argue that the Pope was not subjectively capable of
-committing the offense of Simony. It might have been contended with
-equal justice that in every other respect he was at once above, or
-without, the scope of the entire moral law. Nor can it be said that the
-fifteenth century brought any serious amendment.</p>
-
-<p>From the death of Benedict XI., in 1303, to the death of Alexander VI.,
-in 1503, the night was dark before the inevitable dawn; and in every
-phase of human depravity, in every development of human turpitude, in
-arrogance, in venality, in cruelty, in licentiousness, medieval Popes
-may be found pre-eminent among contemporary potentates.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> Thus, if the
-wickedness of Alexander was extravagant, it was by no means
-unparalleled, even among the Popes of a single century. His cruelty was
-no greater than that of Urban VI., or of Clement VII., or of John XXII.
-His immorality was, at least, more human than that of Paul II. and of
-Sixtus IV., nor were his amours more scandalous than those of Innocent
-VIII. His sacrilege was less dreadful than that of Sixtus IV. His
-covetousness could hardly have exceeded that of Boniface IX.; his
-arrogance was less offensive than that of Boniface VIII. If he was
-unduly subservient to Ferdinand and Isabella in his toleration of the
-enormities of Torquemada, his necessities as an Italian sovereign
-rendered the Spanish alliance a matter of capital importance. As a civil
-potentate and as a politician, he was not only wiser, but far less
-corrupt than Sforza, less rapacious than Ferdinand, more constant than
-Maximilian of Germany, less reckless than Charles of France. His
-administrative ability, his financial enlightenment, his energy as
-regards public works, were no less remarkable than his personal
-liberality, his affability, and his courage. His division of the New
-World by a stroke of the pen was an assumption of imperial power which
-was at least justified by the magnitude of its success. As he sat in his
-palace on the Mons Vaticanus, he was the successor, not of Caligula, but
-of Tiberius&mdash;not of Commodus, but of Diocletian.</p>
-
-<p>Of the misfortunes of his eldest son, created by Ferdinand Duke of
-Gandia; of the wickedness of his second son, the fifteenth century
-Cæsar, who succeeded his father as Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia; of
-the profligacy of his daughter, so unhappily named Lucretia; of the
-mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span>riage of his youngest son Geoffrey to a daughter of Alfonso of
-Naples, as a part of the treaty of alliance between the kingdom of the
-Two Sicilies and the States of the Church, in 1494; of the alliance
-between Alexander and Bajazet, and the poisoning of the Sultan’s
-brother, Zem, after thirteen years’ captivity, on receipt of an
-appropriate fee; of the elevation of a facile envoy to the full rank of
-Cardinal, to please the Grand Turk; of all these things nothing need be
-said in this place.</p>
-
-<p>We are more immediately concerned to know that on New Year’s Day, 1495,
-Pope Alexander VI., a refugee, if not actually a prisoner, in the Castle
-of St. Angelo, was fain to accept the terms that were imposed upon him
-by the victorious Frenchmen&mdash;masters for the nonce of Italy and of Rome.</p>
-
-<p>As Charles VIII. was marching through Italy, and was approaching, all
-unopposed, the sacred city of Rome, Alexander VI., anxious at all
-hazards to obtain the assistance of his countrymen in the hour of
-danger, had sent an envoy to the Spanish court representing the critical
-state of affairs in Italy, assuring the king and queen of his constant
-goodwill, in spite of certain disputes as to the Papal authority in
-Spain, and conveying to them, with other less substantial favors, the
-grant of the Tercias, or two-ninths of the tithes throughout all the
-dominions of Castile, an impost which, until the middle of the present
-century, formed a part of the revenues of the Spanish monarchy. He also
-conceded to the Spanish crown the right of dominion over the whole of
-northern Africa, except Fez, which had been given to the King of
-Portugal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>A projected marriage between the Duke of Calabria, eldest son of the
-King of Naples, and the Infanta Maria, daughter of Ferdinand and
-Isabella, served to give the King of Spain an opportunity for
-negotiating with the Neapolitan court; and Ferdinand at the same time
-dispatched the celebrated Garcilaso de la Vega as his embassador, with
-instructions to return the most comforting assurances to the Pope at
-Rome. Yet he refrained from making any definite promises, or from
-committing himself to any definite policy. He was not a man to do
-anything rashly; and he preferred to await the course of events.
-Meanwhile, having sent a second mission from Guadalajara to the French
-court or camp, with good advice for his young friend and ally Charles
-VIII., Ferdinand betook himself with Isabella to Madrid, where the
-Spanish sovereigns devoted themselves to the preparation and equipment
-of an army to be dispatched at an opportune moment to any part of Italy
-where subsequent events might render its presence necessary. As, for
-various reasons, it was impossible that either Ferdinand or Isabella
-should accompany their army abroad, it became necessary to select a
-general. Among all the skillful leaders and gallant knights who had
-signalized themselves in the wars of Granada, it was somewhat difficult
-to decide upon a commander. But Isabella had never lost sight of
-Gonsalvo de Cordova, in whom she discerned traces of rare military
-talent; and from the moment the Sicilian expedition was planned she
-determined that he should be captain-general of the royal forces. The
-greater experience and apparently superior claims of many who had
-distinguished themselves in battle against the Moors were urged by
-Ferdi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span>nand without avail. The command was given to Gonsalvo de Cordova.</p>
-
-<p>But while the Spanish fleet, under the gallant Count of Trivento, was
-riding at anchor at Alicante, and Gonsalvo was preparing to embark his
-army on board the ships in that harbor, the Spanish sovereigns
-dispatched a final embassy to Charles in Italy. On the 28th of January,
-1495, as the king was leaving Rome on his way toward Naples, the
-embassadors, Juan de Albion and Antonio de Fonseca, arrived at the
-Vatican. They found Pope Alexander smarting under the humiliation of his
-recent treaty with the invader, and willing to assist them in any scheme
-for his discomfiture. They accordingly followed the French army with all
-speed, overtook it within a few miles of Rome, and immediately demanded
-an audience of Charles, even before his troops had come to a halt. They
-delivered up to him their credentials as he was riding along, and
-peremptorily required him to proceed no further toward Naples. The
-haughty tone of the Spaniards, as may be supposed, excited the greatest
-indignation in the breast of Charles and those who surrounded him; high
-words arose on both sides, and finally Fonseca, giving way to a
-simulated transport of rage, produced a copy of the once prized treaty
-of Barcelona, tore it to pieces, and threw down the fragments at
-Charles’s feet. Paul Jove seems to think that this violent and
-unjustifiable conduct on the part of the Spanish embassador was entirely
-unpremeditated; but it is certain that the whole scene had been
-preconcerted with either Ferdinand or the Pope. Zurita and the other
-chroniclers are silent on the point, but Peter Martyr in one of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span>
-letters affirms that the mutilation of the treaty in Charles’s presence
-was included in the secret instructions given to Fonseca by Ferdinand.</p>
-
-<p>The envoys, as was expected, were promptly ordered to quit the French
-camp; and retiring with all speed to Rome, they hastened to transmit to
-Spain the earliest intelligence of the success of their mission. They
-were also permitted to inform their sovereigns of the new honor that had
-been conferred upon them by his Holiness Alexander VI., in the shape of
-the grant to them and to their heirs forever on the throne of Spain of
-the title of “Catholic Kings.”</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Charles VIII. had reached Naples, which had at once opened its
-gates to the invaders, and the Castel Nuovo and the Castel d’Uovo were
-reduced to submission by their well-served artillery. King Alfonso
-abdicated the crown, and Fabricio Colonna ravaged the whole kingdom of
-Naples to the very gates of Brindisi, dispersing the little band of
-troops that had been collected by Don Cæsar of Aragon, illegitimate
-brother of the king; while Perron dei Baschi and Stuart d’Aubigny
-overran the whole country almost without striking a blow; and the
-greater part of the Neapolitan nobility gave their adhesion to the
-French. Nothing, however, could be more impolitic or more ungrateful
-than the manner in which Charles made use of his unexpectedly acquired
-authority, and it soon became evident that the new state of affairs in
-Naples would not be of very long duration. The moment for the judicious
-interference of Ferdinand of Aragon had not been long in arriving.</p>
-
-<p>The conduct of the French at Naples showed pretty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> clearly to the
-Italian States the mistake they had made in permitting Charles to enter
-the country, and they were not slow to accept the suggestions of the
-Spanish embassador, Don Lorenzo Suarez de Mendoza y Figueras, that they
-should form a league with the object of expelling the French from Italy.
-The attitude of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained at Asti, toward
-the duchy of Milan, and the favorable reception accorded by Charles to
-Giovanni Trivulzio, Cardinal Fregosi, and Hybletto dei Fieschi, the
-chiefs of the banished nobles, and the sworn enemies of Ludovico Sforza,
-showed that prince how little he had to expect from the French alliance;
-and the conduct of Charles toward the Florentines, and indeed toward
-every government whose dominion he had traversed throughout Italy,
-terrified and enraged every statesman from Milan to Syracuse.</p>
-
-<p>The envoys of the various states assembled at Venice. The deliberations
-in the council chamber were brief and decisive; and such was the secrecy
-with which the negotiations were conducted that the astute statesman and
-historian Philip de Commines, who then represented France at the court
-of Venice, remained ignorant that any league or convention was even
-contemplated by the various powers, until he was informed by the Doge
-Agostino Barberigo, on the morning of the 1st of April, 1495, that the
-treaty had been signed on the previous day. The avowed objects of this
-Most Holy League, which was entered into by Spain, Austria, Venice,
-Milan and the Court of Rome, were the recovery of Constantinople from
-the Turks, and the protection of the interests of the Church; but the
-secret articles of the treaty, as may be supposed, went much<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> further,
-and provided that Ferdinand should employ the Spanish armament, now on
-its way to Sicily, in re-establishing his kinsman on the throne of
-Naples; that a Venetian fleet of forty galleys should attack the French
-positions on the Neapolitan coasts, that the Duke of Milan, the original
-summoner, should expel the French from Asti, and blockade the passage of
-the Alps, so as to prevent the arrival of further re-enforcements, and
-that the Emperor and the King of Spain should invade France on their
-respective frontiers, while the expense of all these warlike operations
-should be defrayed by subsidies from the allies. The Sultan Bajazet II.,
-though not included in the League, offered, and was permitted, to assist
-the Venetians both by sea and land against the French. Thus we see the
-strange spectacle of the Pope and the Grand Turk&mdash;the Prince of
-Christendom and the Prince of Islam&mdash;united against the first Christian
-Power of Europe, under the leadership of The Most Christian King.</p>
-
-<p>Within six weeks of the signature of this important treaty, Charles
-VIII. of France had caused himself to be crowned at Naples, with
-extraordinary pomp, not only as king, but as emperor; and, having thus
-gratified his puerile vanity, he abandoned his fantastic empire, and
-flying from the dangers that threatened him in Italy he returned to
-Paris. His army in Naples was intrusted to his cousin, Gilbert de
-Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, who was invested with the title of viceroy,
-and instructed by the fugitive king to maintain his position in the
-country against all opponents.</p>
-
-<p>It is not within the scope of this history to give any detailed account
-of the retreat of the French through<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span> Italy, of the wonderful passage of
-the Apennines at Pontremoli, and the still more wonderful victory of
-Fornovo on the Taro, when the French, whose entire force did not exceed
-ten thousand soldiers, completely routed the Italian army of thirty-five
-thousand men, under the command of Gonzago, marquis of Mantua. The
-French forces that remained in southern Italy were doomed to a very
-different fate. The command of the French army had been intrusted to the
-celebrated Stuart d’Aubigny, a knight of Scottish ancestry, who had been
-invested by Charles VIII. with the dignity of Constable of France, and
-who was accounted one of the most capable officers in Europe. But a
-greater captain than D’Aubigny was already on his way from Castile, who
-was in a single campaign to restore the reputation of the Spanish
-infantry to the proud position which they had once occupied in the
-armies of ancient Rome.</p>
-
-<p>Landing at Reggio in Calabria, on the 26th of May, 1495, with a force of
-all arms not exceeding five thousand fighting men, Gonsalvo de Cordova
-speedily possessed himself of that important base of operations,
-established himself on the coast, captured several inland towns, was
-victorious in many skirmishes, and would soon have overrun the whole of
-Calabria, had not the rashness of Frederic, the young king of Naples,
-who had succeeded but a few months before to the crown which Alfonso had
-abdicated after a reign of less than one year, led to a disastrous check
-at Seminara. But Gonsalvo rapidly reorganized his army, and showing
-himself, like a great general, no less admirable in repairing a defeat
-than in taking advantage of a victory, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> had kept D’Aubigny so
-completely in check that he had been unable even to go to the assistance
-of Montpensier, who was in sore straits in Naples. The citizens soon
-opened their gates to their lawful sovereign, and Montpensier retreated
-with his remaining forces to Avella, on the banks of the Lagni, twenty
-miles northeast of the city of Naples, whither Gonsalvo promptly marched
-to besiege him. Having received intelligence in the course of his
-march&mdash;Gonsalvo was ever well informed&mdash;that a strong body of French,
-with some Angevin knights and nobles, were on their way to effect a
-junction with D’Aubigny, he surprised them by a night attack in the
-fortified town of Lino, where he captured every one of the Angevin
-lords, no less than twenty in number, and immediately marching off to
-Avella with his spoils and prisoners, and an immense booty, he arrived
-at Frederic’s camp early in July, just thirteen months after their
-separation on the disastrous field of Seminara.</p>
-
-<p>On hearing of Gonsalvo’s approach, the king marched out to meet him,
-accompanied by Cæsar Borgia, the Papal Legate, and many of the principal
-Neapolitan nobles and commanders, who greeted the victorious Castilian
-with the proud title of “The Great Captain,” by which he was already
-known to some of his contemporaries, and by which he has ever since been
-distinguished by posterity. At Avella he found a re-enforcement of five
-hundred Spanish soldiers, a welcome addition to his small force, which
-amounted on his arrival to only two thousand one hundred men, of whom
-six hundred were cavalry. With such an army, less numerous than a modern
-German regiment, did Gonsalvo overrun Calabria, out-general<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> the most
-renowned French commanders, and defeat their gallant and
-well-disciplined forces, emboldened by uninterrupted success.</p>
-
-<p>The siege operations at Avella, which had been conducted without energy
-by the Neapolitans, received a new impetus from the presence of the
-Spaniard, who displayed such skill and vigor that in a few days the
-French, defeated at every point, were glad to sue for terms, and on the
-21st of July, 1496, signed a capitulation which virtually put an end to
-the war. It was meet that Gonsalvo should now pay a visit to his
-countryman at the Vatican, and having, on his way to Rome, delivered the
-town of Ostia from the dictatorship of a Basque adventurer of the name
-of Guerri, the last remaining hope of the French in Italy, he was
-received by Alexander VI. with such splendor that his entry into the
-city is said to have resembled rather the <i>triumph</i> of a victorious
-general into ancient Rome than the visit of a modern grandee.</p>
-
-<p>The streets were lined with enthusiastic crowds, the windows were filled
-with admiring spectators, the very tops of the houses were covered with
-lookers-on, as Gonsalvo marched into and through the city, preceded by
-bands of music, and accompanied by his victorious army. The entire
-garrison of Ostia, with Manuel Guerri at their head, mounted on a
-wretched horse, was led captive to the Vatican, where Roderic Borgia, in
-the full splendor of his tiara and pontifical robes, and surrounded by
-his cardinals, sat on his throne awaiting the coming of his victorious
-countryman. When Gonsalvo reached the foot of the throne, he knelt down
-to receive the pontifical<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> benediction, but Alexander raised him in his
-arms, and presented to him the Golden Rose, the highest and most
-distinguished honor that a layman could receive from the hands of the
-sovereign Pontiff.</p>
-
-<p>The Great Captain now returned to Naples, into which city he made an
-entry scarcely less splendid than that into Rome; and he received at the
-hands of Frederic more substantial honors than those of a golden rose,
-in the shape of the dukedom of Santangelo, with a fief of two towns and
-seven dependent villages in the Abruzzo. From Naples the new duke sailed
-for Sicily, which was then in a state of open insurrection, in
-consequence of the oppressive rule of Giovanni di Nuccia, the Neapolitan
-viceroy. By the intervention of Gonsalvo, the inhabitants were satisfied
-to return to their allegiance; and order was restored without the
-shedding of a single drop of blood. After some further services to the
-state, and to the cause of peace, services both diplomatic and military,
-in Naples, in Sicily and in Calabria, adding in every case to his
-reputation as a soldier and a statesman, and above all as a great
-Castilian gentleman, Gonsalvo returned to his native Spain, where he was
-received with the applause and respect that is not always granted to
-great men by their own sovereigns, or even by their own countrymen.</p>
-
-<p>His last service to King Frederic and his people, ere he quitted the
-country, was no less honorable than wise. Frederic was engaged in the
-siege of the last city in the kingdom of Naples that refused to
-recognize the dominion of Aragon, the ancient and noble city of Diano,
-whose inhabitants, vassals of that Prince of Salerno who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span> attached
-to the Angevin cause, refused to listen to the terms which were
-proposed. Gonsalvo took charge of the operations; and the citizens,
-convinced of the hopelessness of holding out any longer against so
-vigorous a commander, surrendered a few days afterward at discretion.
-Gonsalvo, whether touched at their bravery and their forlorn condition,
-or merely being adverse from severity for which he saw no reason,
-obtained from the king favorable terms for the garrison.</p>
-
-<p>The expulsion of the French from Naples put an end, as might have been
-supposed, to The Most Holy League. For the high contracting parties,
-finding themselves secure from immediate danger, conceived themselves no
-longer bound by its provisions. Maximilian, ever penniless and generally
-faithless, had made no attempt to engage in any operations on the French
-frontier, nor had any one of the allies contributed to defray the heavy
-charges incurred by the Spanish sovereigns in fulfilling their part of
-the agreement. The Venetians were rather occupied in securing for
-themselves as much of the Neapolitan territory as they could acquire, by
-way of indemnification for their own expenses. The Duke of Milan had
-already made a separate treaty with Charles VIII. Each member of the
-league, in fact, after the first alarm had subsided, had shown himself
-ready to sacrifice the common cause to his own private advantage; and
-Ferdinand of Aragon, who had already suspended his operations on the
-frontiers of Spain in October, 1496, had no difficulty in agreeing to a
-further truce as regarded Naples and Italy, which was signed on the 5th
-of March, 1497.</p>
-
-<p>The Spaniards had borne the entire burden of the late<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span> war. They had
-been virtually abandoned by their allies, and their unassisted
-operations had led to the deliverance of Naples, to the safety of the
-Italian States, and the humiliation and the defeat of the French. Their
-immediate objects having been thus happily accomplished, Ferdinand and
-Isabella proposed to Charles VIII., without shame or hesitation, that
-the French and Spaniards should enter into an immediate treaty of
-alliance, with a view to drive out the reigning sovereign of Naples, and
-divide his kingdom between themselves! Meanwhile the Castilian envoy to
-the Holy See endeavored to induce Alexander VI. to withhold the
-investiture of his kingdom from Frederic, the new sovereign of Naples,
-on the ground that he was friendly to the Angevin party in Italy, the
-hereditary enemies of Spain. But Alexander paid no heed to Garcilaso de
-la Vega. Charles showed himself not only willing but eager to treat with
-Fernando de Estrada; but unwilling at once to abandon all his claims to
-Italian sovereignty, he offered to cede Navarre to Ferdinand, and keep
-all Naples to himself. Proposals and counter proposals thus passed
-between France and Spain; but before any definite programme had been
-agreed to, the negotiations were cut short by the sudden death of the
-French monarch, in the tennis court at Amboise, on the eve of Easter,
-1498.</p>
-
-<p>The success of the Spanish arms under Gonsalvo de Cordova in Italy was
-but the beginning of a long career of triumph. From the great victory at
-Seminara, in 1503, to the great defeat of Rocroy, in 1643, the Spanish
-infantry remained unconquered in Europe. The armies of Castile had been,
-indeed, as Prescott has it, “cooped up<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> within the narrow limits of the
-Peninsula, uninstructed and taking little interest in the concerns of
-the rest of Europe.” But the soldiers and sailors of Aragon and
-Catalonia had fought with distinction, not only in Italy and in Sicily,
-but in the furthest east of Europe, for two hundred years before the
-Great Captain of the United Kingdom set foot on the shores of Calabria.
-Yet the victories of Gonsalvo were the beginning of a new era, and his
-life is interesting, not only as that of a brave soldier and an
-accomplished general, who flourished at a very important period of the
-history of Europe; but it is further and much more interesting as being
-the history of a man who united in himself many of the characteristics
-of ancient and modern civilization, and who himself appears as a sort of
-middle term between medieval and modern times.</p>
-
-<p>In personal valor, in knightly courtesy, in gaudy display, he was of his
-own time. In astute generalship, and in still more astute diplomacy, an
-envoy not an adventurer, the servant and not the rival of kings, he
-belongs to a succeeding age, when the leader of a victorious army is
-prouder to be a loyal subject than a rash rebel. The Castilian lords of
-earlier days had ever been brave knights; their followers had ever been
-hardy and untiring combatants. But Gonsalvo was not only a tactician,
-but a strategist. The men whom he commanded were soldiers. Newly armed
-and admirably disciplined, the regiments were no longer the followers of
-some powerful nobleman; they formed a part of the national army of
-Spain. The short sword of their Celtiberian ancestors was once more
-found in their hands. The long lances of the Swiss mercenaries<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span> were
-adopted with conspicuous success. The drill-sergeant took the place of
-the minstrel in the camp.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was this revolution in the art of war confined to the conduct of the
-Spanish troops in the field. Before the close of the campaign a national
-militia, or rather a standing army, had taken the place of the brave but
-irregular levies of medieval Spain. A royal ordinance regulated the
-equipment of every individual, according to his property. A man’s arms
-were declared free from seizure for debt, even by the Crown, and smiths
-and other artificers were restricted, under severe penalties, from
-working up weapons of war into articles of more pacific use. In 1426 a
-census was taken of all persons capable of bearing arms; and by an
-ordinance issued at Valladolid, on February 22d of the same year, it was
-provided that one out of every twelve inhabitants, between twenty and
-forty-five years of age, should be enlisted for the service of the
-State, whether in the conduct of a foreign war or the suppression of
-domestic disorder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">UNITED SPAIN</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD&mdash;VASCO DA GAMA&mdash;THE ROYAL
-MARRIAGES&mdash;DREAMS OF EMPIRE&mdash;THE DEATH OF ISABELLA&mdash;FERDINAND’S END</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> reign of Ferdinand and Isabella was made immemorial through Columbus
-and his discovery. The man and the event will, in subsequent chapters,
-be considered at length. For the present it will suffice to note that on
-his return from the New World, after being loaded with honors, a
-question arose as to Isabella’s right to confer the dignities thus
-bestowed&mdash;Portugal claiming the territory by reason of an anterior grant
-from the Pope, who, in common with all other parties, believed it to be
-part of India.</p>
-
-<p>The question was referred to a Junta of learned men of both nations, at
-the same time that application was made to the reigning Pope, Alexander
-VI., concerning it. The junta decided that the discoveries of Columbus
-were not included in the Portuguese grant; and his Holiness finally, as
-he conceived, terminated the dispute by drawing a line across the
-Atlantic, from pole to pole, and adjudging all lands discovered on the
-east of that line to Portugal, all on the west to Castile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In connection with this it should be noted that, in 1497, Manuel of
-Portugal sent Vasco da Gama with three ships to double the Cape of Good
-Hope, with a view to tapping India. In the month of November, Gama
-successfully doubled the formidable Cape, and sailed up the eastern
-coast of Africa, as far as Mozambique. Here he found a Moor from Fez,
-who, acting as interpreter between him and the natives, facilitated the
-conclusion of a treaty, in virtue of which the King of Mozambique was to
-furnish the adventurous navigators with pilots well acquainted with the
-course to India. But, while they were taking in wood and water, a
-quarrel arose with the natives, to whom the fault is of course imputed.
-The pilots made their escape, and hostilities ensued. They did not last
-long; the terrors of the Portuguese firearms soon compelling the
-Africans to submit. Another, and, as the king assured Gama, a better
-pilot was supplied, and on the 1st of April, 1498, he sailed from
-Mozambique.</p>
-
-<p>The new pilot proved quite as ill-disposed as his predecessors,
-endeavoring to betray the fleet into the power of his countrymen at
-Mombaza; and being alarmed with apprehensions of detection, by the
-bustle apparent in the crew of Gama’s ship, which had accidentally
-grounded, he also made his escape. It was not till they reached Melinda
-that they found really friendly natives. From that port Gama at last
-obtained a pilot who steered him right across the gulf to the coast of
-Malabar.</p>
-
-<p>The first place in India made by the Portuguese was Calecut. Here Gama
-announced himself as an embassador sent by the King of Portugal to
-negotiate a treaty of alli<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span>ance with the sovereign, the zamorin of
-Calecut, one of the most powerful princes of that part of Hindustan, to
-establish commercial relations, and to convert the natives to
-Christianity. How far this last object of his mission was agreeable to
-the bigoted Hindus, or the equally bigoted Muhammadan conquerors, who
-were then the masters of those wealthy regions, we are not distinctly
-told by the Portuguese historians; but the zamorin appears in the first
-instance to have received Gama well, and been upon the whole pleased
-with his visit. This friendly intercourse was interrupted, as we are
-assured, by the intrigues of the Moors or Arabs, who, being in
-possession of the pepper trade, and indeed of the whole spice trade,
-were jealous of interlopers. Quarrels arose, and some acts of violence
-were committed. They ended, however, in Gama’s gaining the advantage,
-and friendship was restored between him and the zamorin. He reached
-Portugal in July, 1499, after a two years’ voyage, and was, like
-Columbus in Spain, loaded with honors.</p>
-
-<p>We may now return to Ferdinand and Isabella. This was the brightest
-period of their lives. The repulse of Charles VIII., and the victories
-of Gonsalvo, added fresh luster to their reign. Moreover, through
-measures then undertaken, the unconverted Moors were subdued, and the
-French provinces were regained; but, over and above all, a new world had
-been discovered, and marriages, seemingly the most fortunate, were
-concluded: Ferdinand and Isabella’s son and heir, Don John, having
-married the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian; their second daughter
-Joanna, Philip, the son and heir of that monarch, by Mary of Burgundy,
-and already, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span> right of his deceased mother, sovereign of the rich and
-fertile Netherlands; the third, Katharine, was affianced to Arthur,
-Prince of Wales; and Manuel, duke of Beja, having succeeded to his
-cousin John II. of Portugal, despite all intrigues in favor of the
-illegitimate Don George, solicited and obtained the hand of the eldest
-Infanta, the widow of the Prince of Portugal.</p>
-
-<p>The first to be celebrated of all these royal marriages was that of the
-Princess Isabella with Alfonso, the heir to the crown of Portugal, which
-took place in the autumn of the year 1490, and which was apparently
-calculated to lead to the happiest results. But the magnificent wedding
-festivities at Lisbon were scarce concluded when the bridegroom died,
-and the widowed princess returned disconsolate to her mother (January,
-1491).</p>
-
-<p>The marriage of John, prince of Asturias, was the next, and apparently
-the most important alliance that engaged the attention of his parents;
-and, moved by many considerations of policy and prestige, they turned
-their thoughts to far-away Flanders. Maximilian of Hapsburg, the titular
-sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, had, by his first wife, Mary, a
-daughter of Charles the Bold, and in her own right Duchess of Burgundy,
-been made the father of two children, Philip, born in 1478, and
-Margaret, in 1480. Their mother, the beautiful empress, died in 1482;
-and Philip, on attaining his legal majority at the age of sixteen,
-assumed, in her right, the government of the Low Countries in 1494. It
-was with this youthful sovereign, the heir to yet more splendid
-possessions, that the Catholic sovereigns desired to unite their younger
-daughter in marriage, while the hand of his sister Margaret was sought
-for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span> the Prince of Asturias. The advantages to Spain of such a double
-marriage were enormous.</p>
-
-<p>If Prince John were to marry the Archduchess Margaret, the only daughter
-of the emperor, he would inherit, in the event of the death of the
-Archduke Philip without issue, the great possessions of the Hapsburgs,
-Austria, Flanders, and Burgundy, with a claim to the empire that had
-eluded his great ancestor, Alfonso X. That the Archduke Philip should in
-his turn espouse, not Isabella, the eldest, but Joanna, the second
-daughter of the Catholic king, would prevent Spain from passing under
-the dominion of Austria, even in the unlikely event of the death of
-Prince John without issue, inasmuch as Isabella of Portugal would, in
-such a case, inherit the Spanish crown, to the prejudice of her younger
-sister in Flanders. And finally, if all the young wives and husbands
-should live to a reasonable age, and should leave children behind them
-at their death, one grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella would wear the
-imperial purple as lord of Central Europe, and another would sit upon
-the throne of a great united Peninsular kingdom of Castile, Portugal,
-and Aragon.</p>
-
-<p>In the early autumn of 1496 (August 22), a splendid fleet set out from
-Laredo, a little port between Bilbao and Santander, which carried Joanna
-in safety to her expectant bridegroom. The archduke and the princess for
-whom so sad a fate was reserved were married at Lille with the usual
-rejoicings; and the Spanish admiral, charged a second time with a
-precious freight of marriageable royalty, brought back the Lady Margaret
-of Hapsburg with all honor to Spanish Santander, early in March, 1497.
-The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span> marriage of the heir apparent took place at Burgos, on the 3d of
-April; and on the 4th of October of the same year, the gentle and
-accomplished Prince of Asturias had passed away from Spain, and from the
-world.</p>
-
-<p>Yet, once again, and for a few months, there lived an heir to United
-Spain, whose brief existence is scarce remembered in history. Isabella,
-the widowed queen of John II. of Portugal, had been persuaded or
-constrained by her parents to contract a second marriage with her
-husband’s cousin and successor Emmanuel; but the price of her hand was
-the price of blood. For it was stipulated that the Jews, who, by the
-liberality of the late king, had been permitted to find a home in his
-dominions, should be driven out of the country after the stern Castilian
-fashion of 1492, ere the widowed Isabella should wed her cousin on the
-throne of Portugal.</p>
-
-<p>Whether the princess was an apt pupil, or merely the slave of her mother
-and the Inquisitor that lurked behind the throne, we cannot say, but the
-Portuguese lover consented to the odious bargain. The marriage was
-solemnized at Valencia de Alcantara, in the early days of the month of
-August, 1497, and the stipulated Tribute to Bigotry was duly paid. But
-before ever the bridal party had left the town, an express had arrived
-with the news of the mortal illness of the bride’s only brother; and in
-little more than a year the young queen herself, on the 23d of August,
-1498, expired in giving birth to a son. The boy received the name of
-Miguel, and lived for nearly two years&mdash;the heir apparent of Portugal,
-of Aragon, and of Castile&mdash;until he too was involved in the general
-destruction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But some time before the death, or even before the birth of Miguel,
-another royal marriage had been concluded, whose results throughout all
-time were no less remarkable and scarce less important than that which
-handed over Spain to a Flemish emperor. For after infinite negotiations
-and more than one rupture, after some ten years’ huxtering about dowry,
-and a dozen changes of policy on the part of the various sovereigns
-interested in the alliance, Katharine, the youngest daughter of
-Ferdinand and Isabella, more familiarly known as Katharine of Aragon,
-had been married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and the first act had been
-concluded of that strange and fateful drama that led to the Reformation
-in England.</p>
-
-<p>The dignified sadness of her story as Queen Katharine&mdash;insulted,
-divorced, and abandoned&mdash;the unwilling heroine of the great tragic drama
-that was played in the reign of Henry VIII. of England, is known to all
-men, who extend to her, with one consent, their pity and their respect.
-But those only who know something of the seven dreary and disgraceful
-years that she spent in the palace of her father-in-law, before she was
-permitted to know, even for a season, the happiness of a husband’s love,
-or to enjoy the great position of Queen of England, may alone understand
-the fullness of the measure of her wretchedness.</p>
-
-<p>In June, 1504, Isabella, who had for some time been ailing, and who
-seems to have suffered from some nervous disease, was struck down
-suddenly by fever. She had lived a hard life. She had never spared
-herself, or others. The unhappy marriages of her children had cast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> a
-dark shadow over her life. But hers was not the nature to repine.
-Diligent, abstemious, resolute, she had borne pain and suffering, and
-she was not afraid to face death. Unable at length to rise from her
-couch, as the autumn drew to a close, she continued to transact her
-accustomed business, gave audience to embassadors, chatted with
-privileged visitors, and, in the words of an astonished stranger,
-governed the world from her bed.</p>
-
-<p>At last, on the 26th of November, 1504, as the church bells of Medina
-del Campo were ringing out the hour of noon, the spirit of Isabella of
-Castile flitted away from this world; and her mortal remains were
-conducted by a mournful company to their last resting place under the
-shadow of the red towers of Alhambra. Through storm and tempest, amid
-earthquake and inundation, across mountain and river, the affrighted
-travelers wended their way. For the sun was not seen by day nor the
-stars by night, during three long and weary weeks, as if the very forces
-of nature were disturbed at the death of a giant among the princes of
-the earth.</p>
-
-<p>The character of Isabella has suffered to an uncommon extent from an
-ignorant glorification of virtues that she was far from possessing, and
-the concealment of those transcendent powers that made her not only one
-of the greatest rulers of Spain, but one of the greatest women in the
-history of the world. Until the opening of the treasure-house at
-Simancas displayed her correspondence to the world, she was only known
-from the extravagant but somewhat colorless panegyrics of contemporary
-chroniclers, who recognized at least that she was a royal lady,
-compelling their gallant admiration, and that she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> immensely
-superior to her husband, whom it was necessary also to glorify, as the
-last Spanish sovereign of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Isabella was one of the most remarkable characters in history. Not only
-was she the most masterful, and, from her own point of view, by far the
-most successful ruler that ever sat upon the throne of Spain, or of any
-of the kingdoms of the Peninsula; she stands in the front rank of the
-great sovereigns of Europe, and challenges comparison with the greatest
-women who have ever held sway in the world. A reformer and a zealot, an
-autocrat and a leader of men, with a handsome face and a gracious
-manner, scarce concealing the iron will that lay beneath, Isabella was
-patient in adversity, dignified in prosperity, at all times quiet,
-determined, thorough.</p>
-
-<p>In one particular she stands alone among the great ruling women, the
-conquerors and empresses of history. She is the only royal lady, save,
-perhaps, Maria Theresa of Hungary, who maintained through life the
-incongruous relations of a masterful sovereign and a devoted wife, and
-shared not only her bed but her throne with a husband whom she
-respected&mdash;a fellow-sovereign whom she neither feared nor disregarded.
-To command the obedience of a proud and warlike people is given to few
-of the great men of history. To do the bidding of another with vigor and
-with discretion is a task that has been but rarely accomplished by a
-heaven-born minister. But to conceive and carry out great designs, with
-one hand in the grasp of even the most loyal of companions, is a
-triumphant combination of energy with discretion, of the finest tact
-with the most indomitable resolution, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> stamps Isabella of Spain as
-a being more vigorous than the greatest men, more discreet than the
-greatest women of history. Semiramis, Zenobia, Boadicea, Elizabeth of
-England, Catherine of Russia, not one of them was embarrassed by a
-partner on the throne. The partner of Isabella was not only a husband
-but a king, jealous, restless, and untrustworthy. It is in this respect,
-and in the immense scope of her political action, that the great Queen
-of Castile is comparable with the bold Empress-King of Hungary rather
-than with any other of the great queens and royal ladies of history.</p>
-
-<p>The husband of Zenobia indeed enjoyed the title of Augustus; but it was
-only after his assassination that the lady earned her fame as a ruler.
-Catherine caused her imperial consort to be executed as a preliminary to
-her vigorous reign in Russia; Boadicea was the successor and not the
-colleague of Prasutagus; and Semiramis, though herself somewhat a
-mythical personage, is said to have slain both her husband and his
-rival, in her assertion of her absolute power. Yet Isabella
-revolutionized the institutions of her country, religious, political,
-military, financial, she consolidated her dominions, humiliated her
-nobles, cajoled her Commons, defied the Pope, reformed the clergy; she
-burned some ten thousand of her subjects; she deported a million more;
-and of the remnant she made a great nation; she brooked no man’s
-opposition, in a reign of thirty years, and she died in the arms of the
-king, her husband!</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand of Aragon was no hero. But he was a strong man; a capable
-ruler; a clever if a treacherous diplomatist. And to this husband and
-consort was Isa<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span>bella faithful through life, not merely in the grosser
-sense of the word, to which Ferdinand for himself paid so little heed;
-but in every way and walk of life. She supported him in his policy; she
-assisted him in his intrigues; she encouraged him in his ambitious
-designs; she lied for him, whenever prudence required it; she worked for
-him at all times, as she worked for Spain. For his policy, his
-intrigues, his designs were all her own. Whenever the views of the king
-and queen were for a moment discordant, Isabella prevailed, without
-apparent conflict of authority. In her assumption of supremacy in the
-marriage contract; in her nomination of Gonsalvo de Cordova to the
-command of the army; in her choice of Ximenez as the Primate of Spain,
-she carried her point, not by petulance or even by argument, but by
-sheer force of character; nor did she strain for one moment, even in
-these manifestations of her royal supremacy, the friendly and even
-affectionate relations that ever subsisted between herself and her
-husband.</p>
-
-<p>The love and devotion of Isabella was a thing of which the greatest of
-men might have well been proud. And though Ferdinand the Catholic may
-not fairly be counted among the greatest, he was a man wise enough to
-appreciate the merits of his queen, and to accept and maintain the
-anomalous position in which he found himself as her consort.</p>
-
-<p>In war at least it might have been supposed that the queen would occupy
-a subordinate position. Yet in no department of State did Isabella show
-to greater advantage than as the organizer of victorious armies; not as
-a batallador after the fashion of her distinguished ancestors<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span> in
-Castile and in Aragon; but as the originator of an entirely new system
-of military administration.</p>
-
-<p>Before her time, in Spain, war had been waged by the great nobles and
-their retainers in attendance upon the king. There was no such thing as
-uniformity of action or preparation, no central organization of any
-kind. Each man went into battle to fight and to forage as opportunity
-offered. Each commander vied with his fellow nobles in deeds of bravery,
-and accorded to them such support as he chose. The sovereign exercised a
-general authority, and assumed the active command of the united
-multitude of soldiers, on rare and important occasions. If victory
-followed, as at the Navas de Tolosa, the soldiers were rewarded with the
-plunder, and took possession of the property of the enemy. If the
-Christians were defeated, the army melted away; and the king betook
-himself to the nearest shelter.</p>
-
-<p>But Isabella had no sooner assumed the title of Queen of Castile, than
-she was called upon to maintain her pretensions in the field. With no
-experience but that of a country palace, with no training but that of a
-country cloister, she set herself to work to organize an army. On the
-1st of May, 1474, five hundred horsemen represented the entire forces of
-the fair usurper. By the 19th of July she had collected over forty
-thousand men, had armed and equipped them ready for the field, and had
-sent them forward under the command of Ferdinand to the frontier.
-Although she was at the time in delicate health, she was constantly in
-the saddle, riding long distances from fortress to fortress, hurrying up
-recruits all day, dictating letters all night, giving her zealous
-personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span> attention to every detail of armory and equipment, showing
-from the first that quiet energy and that natural aptitude for command
-that ever so constantly distinguished her. That her levies were not
-victorious in no way daunted her determination. A second army was raised
-by her, within a few weeks after the first had melted away under
-Ferdinand; nor would she listen to any offers of negotiation, until the
-enemy had been driven out of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>In the conduct of the war of Granada, with time and money at her
-command, her preparations were upon a very different scale. The most
-skillful artificers were summoned from every part of Europe to assist in
-the work of supplying the army with the necessary material of war.
-Artillery, then almost unknown to the military art, was manufactured in
-Spain according to the best designs. Model cannon were imported, and the
-necessary ammunition collected from abroad. Sword-blades were forged at
-home. Not only a commissariat, but a field hospital&mdash;institutions till
-then unheard of in Spanish warfare&mdash;were organized and maintained under
-the personal supervision of the queen. The presence of a lady on the day
-of battle would, as a rule, as she rightly judged, have been rather a
-hinderance than a help; but she was very far from being a mere
-commissioner of supply. A first-rate horsewoman, she was constantly seen
-riding about the camp, encouraging, inspecting, directing; and in the
-last days of the siege of Granada, when the spirits of the troops had
-begun to flag, she appeared daily in complete armor, and showed herself
-upon more than one occasion in a post of danger on the field. The armies
-with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> which Gonsalvo de Cordova overran Calabria, and annihilated the
-French at Cerignola, were prepared and dispatched by Isabella; and if,
-in a subsequent campaign, the Great Captain was left without supplies or
-re-enforcements, it was that the queen was already sickening to her
-death, broken down and worn out by her constant and enormous exertions.</p>
-
-<p>But with all her aptitude for military organization, Isabella had no
-love for war. Her first campaign was undertaken to make good her
-pretensions to the crown. The extermination of the Moslems was a matter
-of religious feeling and patriotic pride, rather than an object of
-military glory; but she refused to pursue her conquest across the
-Straits of Gibraltar. The expeditions to Italy were a part of
-Ferdinand’s diplomacy, though the honor of victory must be shared
-between Isabella and her Great Captain. But the queen’s ambition lay not
-in conquest abroad. On the contrary, as soon as the last province in
-Spain had been delivered from the foreign yoke of the Moor, she turned
-her attention to the peaceful development of the kingdom; and,
-unlettered warrior as she was, she bestowed her royal patronage upon
-students and studies, rather than upon the knights and nobles who had
-fought her battles before Granada.</p>
-
-<p>The old foundations of the Universities, the new art of printing,
-scholarship, music, architecture found in her a generous patron, not so
-much from predilection as from policy. Men of letters and men of
-learning were welcomed at her court, not only from every part of Spain,
-but from every part of Europe. For herself she had little appreciation
-of literature. She neither knew nor cared<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span> what influence her beloved
-Inquisition would have upon science. But as long as the queen lived,
-learning was honored in Spain.</p>
-
-<p>In this, as in all other things, her judgment of men was unerring. The
-queen who made Gonsalvo the commander-in-chief of her armies, and
-Ximenez the president of her council, who selected Torquemada as her
-grand inquisitor, and Talavera as her archbishop of Granada, made no
-mistake when she invited Peter Martyr to instruct her son in polite
-letters, and commissioned Lebrija to compose the first Castilian Grammar
-for the use of her court.</p>
-
-<p>Her beauty of face and form are familiar. Yet vanity was unknown to her
-nature. Simple and abstemious in her daily life, and despising pomp for
-its own sake, no one could make a braver show on fitting occasions; and
-the richness of her apparel, the glory of her jewels, and the noble
-dignity of her presence, have been celebrated by subjects and strangers.</p>
-
-<p>At the death of Isabella, Ferdinand, in accordance with the provisions
-of her will, caused his daughter, Joanna, to be proclaimed queen and
-himself regent. Philip, archduke of Austria, the husband of Joanna,
-having disputed the rights of his father-in-law and threatened an appeal
-to arms, the latter in disgust, with the view of again separating the
-crowns of Aragon and Castile, entered into negotiations with Louis XII.,
-married Germaine de Foix, the niece of Louis (1505), and shortly
-afterward resigned the regency of Castile. On the death of Philip, in
-1506, he resumed the administration, though not without opposition, and
-retained it till his death. In 1508 he joined the League of Cambray for
-the partition of Venice, and thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span> without any trouble became master of
-five important Neapolitan cities.</p>
-
-<p>In the following year (1509) the African expedition of Cardinal Ximenez
-was undertaken, which resulted in the conquest of Oran. In 1511
-Ferdinand joined Venice and Pope Julius II. in a “holy league” for the
-expulsion of the French from Italy. This gave a pretext for invading
-Navarre, which had entered into alliance with France, and been laid
-under Papal interdict in consequence. Aided by his son-in-law Henry
-VIII. of England, who sent a squadron under the Marquis of Dorset to
-co-operate in the descent on Guienne, Ferdinand became master of Navarre
-in 1513; and on June 15, 1515, by a solemn act in Cortes held at Burgos,
-he incorporated it with the kingdom of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>The League of Cambray, which was signed on the 10th of December, 1508,
-between Louis XII., the Emperor Maximilian, and Ferdinand of Aragon, at
-the instance of the warlike Pope Julius II., was nominally directed
-against the Turks, but was in reality a coalition for the destruction
-and partition among the confiscators of the rich State of Venice. If
-anything was wanted to make this league of public plunderers more
-corrupt and more odious than it would under any circumstances have been,
-it was that the kings of France and of Aragon, in order to secure the
-adhesion of the Medicis, sacrificed their faithful allies, the Pisans,
-after solemn assurances of protection and support, and actually sold
-that ancient city to the Florentines, their hereditary enemies, for a
-hundred thousand ducats.</p>
-
-<p>But all their bad faith and covetousness was displayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span> in vain. The
-perfidious leaguers could not even trust one another; and the success of
-the French arms at Agnadel, in May, 1509, so seriously alarmed both
-Julius and Ferdinand that a second treaty was concluded in October,
-1511, when the Pope and the King of Aragon invited the Venetian
-Republic, for whose destruction they had leagued themselves together
-with Louis XII. not three years before, to assist them in driving the
-French out of Italy.</p>
-
-<p>Of the consummate skill with which Ferdinand, from the middle of 1509 to
-the end of 1511, played off his allies and rivals one against the other,
-until he had accomplished the central object of his diplomacy in the
-great Confederation against Louis XII., we may read in the history of
-France and of Italy, of England and of Germany, rather than in the
-Chronicles of Aragon. For King Ferdinand pulled the strings that moved
-the puppets, while he remained wellnigh hidden himself. But by the end
-of 1511 the showman was compelled to make his own appearance upon the
-stage of European warfare; and Ferdinand was ever less successful as an
-actor than as an impresario. His policy for the past two years had been
-the formation of a league against his dearly-beloved uncle-in-law, Louis
-XII., by the aid of his dearly-beloved son-in-law, Henry VIII. Queen
-Katharine, who had already played the part of embassador to her English
-father-in-law, was to make use of her influence over her English
-husband; and if the queen should refuse to advise King Henry to go to
-war with France, her confessor was to tell her that she was bound as a
-good Christian to do so.</p>
-
-<p>To coerce the confessor, Ferdinand applied to the Pope;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span> and to control
-the Pope, he betrayed to him, in secret, the whole scheme of King Louis
-XII. as regarded the plunder of the States of the Church. It is easy to
-understand what an effect the communication of the French king’s plans
-of spoliation produced upon the excitable and irascible Julius. When he
-had learned that he was not only to be robbed of his temporalities, but
-that he was to be deposed and imprisoned in case he should prove
-spiritually intractable, he hastened, in spite of his age and his
-infirmities, to traverse the snow-covered mountains, that he might meet
-his enemy in the field.</p>
-
-<p>The King of Aragon was a diplomatist who left nothing to chance. He
-trusted no man. And if no man trusted him, he never deceived himself by
-supposing that any one was simple enough to do so. No detail, however
-trifling, was neglected by him in his negotiations. No contingency,
-however remote, was left out of sight in his intrigues. And however
-little we may respect his character, which was perhaps not much worse
-than that of some of his rivals, we cannot refuse to admire his
-transcendent skill, his infinite perseverance, his forethought, and his
-keen appreciation of every shade of political development. A little
-honesty would have made him a great man, a little generosity would have
-made him a great king. His policy, moreover, toward the close of his
-life, is at least worthy of an admiration which has rarely been extended
-to it. It was a policy which embraced all Europe in its scope; and
-although it had no direct relation to Spain or the Spanish people, it
-would be ill to conclude even a brief survey of the history of Spain
-without referring to the imperial dreams of the great Spaniard, first of
-modern diplomatists, and of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span> early endeavors to solve more than one
-of those questions that still embarrass the foreign policy of modern
-States: the establishment of a kingdom of Italy; the alliance between
-Italy and Germany, to withstand a dreaded power beyond the Danube and
-the Carpathians; the entanglement of England in a central European
-league; and the treatment of the Pope of Rome.</p>
-
-<p>The Turks, the medieval bugbear in the East&mdash;for the Middle Ages had
-also their Eastern Question&mdash;were at this time rapidly encroaching upon
-Christian Europe; and it was obviously desirable to form a powerful
-empire, as a bulwark of Christendom, on the banks of the Danube. The
-opportunity of founding a great empire in central Europe actually
-existed. Ladislaus II., king of Bohemia and of Hungary, had only one
-son, Louis, who was of so delicate a constitution that no issue could be
-expected of his marriage. In case he should die without children, his
-sister, the Princess Anne, was the heiress of both his kingdoms; and if
-her father could be persuaded to marry her to the heir of the Austrian
-principalities, Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary, thus united with the
-heritage of the Hapsburgs, would form by no means a contemptible State,
-which might itself be but the nucleus of a greater and more ambitious
-empire.</p>
-
-<p>Naples, which had so lately been added to the Spanish dominions, was
-still exposed to the attacks of the French, who claimed one-half, and
-were always ready to appropriate to themselves the whole of the kingdom.
-Naples was separated from France, indeed, by a considerable extent of
-territory in Italy; but the smaller Italian States were too weak to
-render any serious resistance, and too<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span> fickle to be counted upon as
-friends or as foes by any Spanish sovereign. The best way to render
-Naples secure was, in the eyes of Ferdinand, the foundation of a great
-kingdom in northern Italy, powerful enough to prevent the French from
-marching their armies to the south. The formation of such a kingdom
-moreover would have greatly facilitated a peaceful division of the great
-Austro-Spanish inheritance between Prince Charles and his brother, the
-Infante Ferdinand.</p>
-
-<p>If Charles could be provided not only with the kingdom of Spain, but
-with the possessions of Maximilian and Ladislaus and the Princess Anne,
-and the empire of central Europe, his younger brother Ferdinand might
-content himself with a kingdom to be made up of all the States of Italy,
-protected against the encroachments of France by Spanish infantry and
-German landsknechts, and ready to drive the Turk out of the
-Mediterranean in support of the Christian empire on the Danube.</p>
-
-<p>The kingdom of Italy, thus designed for his younger grandson by the
-far-seeing Ferdinand of Aragon, was to consist of Genoa, Pavia, Milan,
-and the Venetian territories on the mainland. The country of the Tyrol,
-being the most southern of the Austrian dominions, could, without
-sensibly weakening the projected empire, be separated from it and added
-to the new kingdom in Italy. Thus stretching from the Mediterranean to
-the Adriatic, and from the Gulf of Spezia to the Lake of Constance, this
-sixteenth century kingdom of Italy, with the whole power of the Holy
-Roman Empire to support it, would have been a splendid endowment for a
-younger son of the greatest family on earth. There was also a reasonable
-prospect that it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span> might afterward be still further enlarged by the
-addition of Naples, and the smaller Italian States would easily have
-fallen a prey to their powerful neighbor. But in addition to all this,
-Ferdinand thought that he would render a notable service to the Catholic
-religion and to the peace of Europe if the Church were thoroughly
-reformed. What Rome herself has lost by Ferdinand’s failure it is not
-given even to the Infallible to know. What the king’s reforms were to
-be, we can only shrewdly surmise; and although they would most assuredly
-not have been Protestant, they would with equal certainty have been by
-no means palatable to the Vatican. For it is reasonably probable that if
-either Louis XII. or Ferdinand the Catholic had been permitted to carry
-out their designs, the Pope of Rome would have found himself deprived of
-his temporal power, and Garibaldi, nay, perchance Luther, would have
-been forestalled. It was the reforms of Ximenez that to a large extent
-prevented Luther in Spain. The reforms of Ferdinand might possibly have
-prevented him in Italy.</p>
-
-<p>It was in 1516 that Ferdinand died. Seven years previous Queen Germaine
-had been delivered of a son, who received from his parents the name of
-John. But the curse that lay upon the children of Ferdinand was not yet
-spent; and the rival of Charles V., the heir of Aragon, Sardinia,
-Naples, and Sicily, was permitted to gladden the envious heart of his
-father by but a few hours of life. As years passed on there seemed
-little chance of any further issue of the King and Queen of Aragon. The
-unity of Spain at length appeared to be secure. But the ambition of
-Ferdinand was even surpassed by his jealousy. Childless, vindictive, and
-obstinate, he chafed at the ill-success of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span> personal schemes; and
-rather than suffer the crown of united Spain to pass over to his
-daughter’s son and heir, he sought, at the hands of some medical
-impostor, the powers that were denied to his old age. The drug that was
-to have renewed his youth destroyed his constitution, and his death was
-the direct result of one of the least creditable of the many
-developments of his jealousy, his obstinacy, and his selfishness.</p>
-
-<p>At length came the inevitable end; and at the wretched hamlet of
-Madrigalejo, near Guadalupe, in the mountains of Estremadura, on the 23d
-of January of the new year 1516, Ferdinand died; and Spain was at length
-a United Kingdom.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">MODERN SPAIN</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG&mdash;PHILIP II.&mdash;DEFEAT OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA&mdash;A
-BOURBON AMONG THEM&mdash;THE PENINSULAR WAR&mdash;ALFONSO XIII.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">With</span> the death of Ferdinand begins the period of uninterrupted Hapsburg
-rule in Spain, which lasted for nearly two centuries. In the course of
-this period, the monarchy obtained absolute authority, and Spain, after
-rising for a time to be the foremost State in Europe, sank to the
-position of a second-rate power, from which it has never since emerged.
-Aragon and Castile were distinct kingdoms, and the former was again
-divided into the three provinces of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia,
-each of which had its own Cortes, its own privileges, and the most
-warmly-cherished traditions of independence. The foreign possessions of
-the two crowns were a source of weakness rather than of strength. France
-stood ready at the earliest opportunity to contest the possession of
-Navarre with Castile, and that of Naples with Aragon.</p>
-
-<p>The difficulties of domestic government were increased by the fact that
-the prospective ruler was a youthful foreigner, who had never visited
-Spain, and who was completely ignorant of the customs and even of the
-language of the country. Charles&mdash;the son of Philip, archduke of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span>
-Austria, and of Jane, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella&mdash;had been born
-and educated in the Netherlands, of which he had been nominal ruler ever
-since the death of his father in 1506. All his friends and advisers were
-Flemings, who cared nothing for Spanish interests, and had already
-acquired an evil reputation for selfish greed. The first symptom of
-discontent in Spain was excited by Charles’s demand to be recognized as
-king, in utter disregard of his mother. In Aragon the demand was
-unhesitatingly refused, but in Castile the vigorous measures of the
-famous Cardinal Ximenez secured Charles’s proclamation.</p>
-
-<p>The regent, however, had great difficulties to face. The nobles,
-delighted to be rid of the strong government of Ferdinand, wished to
-utilize the opportunity to regain the privileges and independence they
-had lost. In this crisis the loyal devotion of Ximenez saved the
-monarchy. Throwing himself upon the support of the citizen class, he
-organized a militia which overawed the nobles and maintained order. A
-French invasion of Navarre was repulsed, and to avoid any danger from
-the discontent of the inhabitants, all the fortresses of the province,
-with the single exception of Pamplona, were dismantled. These
-distinguished services were rewarded with more than royal ingratitude by
-Charles, who came to Spain in 1517, and who allowed the aged cardinal to
-die on November 8th, without even granting him an interview.</p>
-
-<p>Charles’s enormous inheritance was increased by the successes of Cortes
-in Mexico and of Pizarro in Peru, by his own annexation of the Milanese,
-and by his conquests in northern Africa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The glory of Spain was then at its apogee. After his death, which
-occurred in 1558, the decline set in. From this time also the House of
-Hapsburg became divided into its contemporary branches.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was succeeded by Philip II., his only legitimate son. The
-administration of the latter, while successful at home, was a failure
-abroad. During his reign a claim to the throne of Portugal was
-successfully asserted, and the unity of the Peninsula was completed.
-Moreover, colonial possessions were greatly extended. Yet his religious
-intolerance excited the revolt of the Netherlands, which resulted in a
-loss of the seven northern provinces. His effort to obtain a
-preponderant influence over France was dexterously foiled by the
-succession and triumph of Henry IV. But his great and historical defeat
-was that which he experienced with the Armada.</p>
-
-<p>Besides the Spanish crown, Philip succeeded to the kingdoms of Naples
-and Sicily, the Duchy of Milan, Franche-Comte, and the Netherlands. In
-Africa he possessed Tunis, Oran, the Cape Verd, and the Canary Islands;
-and in Asia, the Philippine and Sunda Islands, and a part of the
-Moluccas. Beyond the Atlantic he was lord of the most splendid portions
-of the New World. The empires of Peru and Mexico, New Spain, and Chili,
-with their abundant mines of the precious metals, Hispaniola and Cuba,
-and many other of the American islands, were provinces of the sovereign
-of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Philip had also the advantage of finding himself at the head of a large
-standing army in a perfect state of discipline and equipment, in an age
-when, except some few insignificant corps, standing armies were unknown
-to Chris<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span>tendom. The renown of the Spanish troops was justly high, and
-the infantry in particular was considered the best in the world. His
-fleet, also, was far more numerous, and better appointed, than that of
-any other European power; and both his soldiers and his sailors had the
-confidence in themselves and their commanders which a long career of
-successful warfare alone can create.</p>
-
-<p>One nation only had been his active, his persevering, and his successful
-foe. England had encouraged his revolted subjects in Flanders against
-him, and given them the aid in men and money without which they must
-soon have been humbled in the dust. English ships had plundered his
-colonies; had defied his supremacy in the New World, as well as the Old;
-they had inflicted ignominious defeats on his squadrons; they had
-captured his cities, and burned his arsenals on the very coasts of
-Spain. The English had made Philip himself the object of personal
-insult. He was held up to ridicule in their stage plays and masks, and
-these scoffs at the man had (as is not unusual in such cases) excited
-the anger of the absolute king, even more vehemently than the injuries
-inflicted on his power. Personal as well as political revenge urged him
-to attack England. Were she once subdued, the Dutch must submit; France
-could not cope with him, the empire would not oppose him; and universal
-dominion seemed sure to be the result of the conquest of that malignant
-island.</p>
-
-<p>For some time the destination of an enormous armament which he had long
-been preparing was not publicly announced. Only Philip himself, the Pope
-Sixtus, the Duke of Guise, and Philip’s favorite minister, Mendoza,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span> at
-first knew its real object. Rumors were sedulously spread that it was
-designed to proceed to the Indies to realize vast projects of distant
-conquest. Sometimes hints were dropped by Philip’s embassadors in
-foreign courts that their master had resolved on a decisive effort to
-crush his rebels in the Low Countries. But Elizabeth and her statesmen
-could not view the gathering of such a storm without feeling the
-probability of its bursting on their own shores. As early as the spring
-of 1587, Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to cruise off the Tagus. Drake
-sailed into the Bay of Cadiz and the Lisbon Roads, and burned much
-shipping and military stores, causing thereby an important delay in the
-progress of the Spanish preparations. Drake called this “Singeing the
-king of Spain’s beard.” Elizabeth also increased her succors of troops
-to the Netherlanders, to prevent the Prince of Parma from overwhelming
-them, and from thence being at full leisure to employ his army against
-her dominions.</p>
-
-<p>Philip had an ally in France who was far more powerful than the French
-king. This was the Duke of Guise, the chief of the League, and the idol
-of the fanatic partisans of the Romish faith. Philip prevailed on Guise
-openly to take up arms against Henry III. (who was reviled by the
-Leaguers as a traitor to the true Church, and a secret friend to the
-Huguenots); and thus prevent the French king from interfering in favor
-of Queen Elizabeth. “With this object, the commander, Juan Iniguez
-Moreo, was dispatched by him in the early part of April to the Duke of
-Guise at Soissons. He met with complete success. He offered the Duke of
-Guise, as soon as he took the field against Henry III., three hundred
-thousand crowns, six<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> thousand infantry, and twelve hundred pikemen, on
-behalf of the king, his master, who would, in addition, withdraw his
-embassador from the court of France, and accredit an envoy to the
-Catholic party. A treaty was concluded on these conditions, and the Duke
-of Guise entered Paris, where he was expected by the Leaguers, and
-whence he expelled Henry III. on the 12th of May, by the insurrection of
-the barricades. A fortnight after this insurrection, which reduced Henry
-III. to impotence, and, to use the language of the Prince of Parma, did
-not even ‘permit him to assist the Queen of England with his tears, as
-he needed them all to weep over his own misfortunes,’ the Spanish fleet
-left the Tagus and sailed toward the British isles.”</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile in England, from the sovereign on the throne to the peasant in
-the cottage, all hearts and hands made ready to meet the imminent deadly
-peril. A camp was formed at Tilbury; and there Elizabeth rode through
-the ranks, encouraging her captains and her soldiers by her presence and
-her words.</p>
-
-<p>The ships of the royal navy at this time amounted to no more than
-thirty-six; but the most serviceable merchant vessels were collected
-from all the ports of the country; and the citizens of London, Bristol,
-and the other great seats of commerce, showed as liberal a zeal in
-equipping and manning vessels as the nobility and gentry displayed in
-mustering forces by land. The seafaring population of the coast, of
-every rank and station, was animated by the same ready spirit; and the
-whole number of seamen who came forward to man the English fleet was
-17,472. The number of the ships that were collected was 191; and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span>
-total amount of their tonnage 31,985. There was one ship in the fleet
-(the “Triumph”) of 1,100 tons, one of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800
-each, three of 600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 250,
-twenty of 200, and the residue of inferior burden. Application was made
-to the Dutch for assistance: and, as Stowe expresses it, “The Hollanders
-came roundly in, with threescore sail, brave ships of war, fierce and
-full of spleen, not so much for England’s aid, as in just occasion for
-their own defense; these men foreseeing the greatness of the danger that
-might ensue, if the Spaniards should chance to win the day and get the
-mastery over them; in due regard whereof their manly courage was
-inferior to none.”</p>
-
-<p>The equipment of the Spanish forces consisted of 130 ships (besides
-caravels), 3,165 cannon, 8,050 sailors, 2,088 galley-slaves, 18,973
-soldiers, 1,382 noblemen, gentlemen, and attendants, 150 monks, with
-Martin Alarco, vicar of the Inquisition&mdash;the whole under the command of
-the Duke of Medina Sidonia.</p>
-
-<p>While this huge armada was making ready in the southern ports of the
-Spanish dominions, the Prince of Parma, with almost incredible toil and
-skill, collected a squadron of warships at Dunkirk, and his flotilla of
-other ships and of flat-bottomed boats for the transport to England of
-the picked troops, which were designed to be the main instruments in
-subduing England. Thousands of workmen were employed, night and day, in
-the construction of these vessels, in the ports of Flanders and Brabant.</p>
-
-<p>One hundred of the kind called hendes, built at Antwerp, Bruges, and
-Ghent, and laden with provisions<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span> and ammunition, together with sixty
-flat-bottomed boats, each capable of carrying thirty horses, were
-brought, by means of canals and fosses, dug expressly for the purpose,
-to Nieuport and Dunkirk. One hundred smaller vessels were equipped at
-the former place, and thirty-two at Dunkirk, provided with twenty
-thousand empty barrels, and with materials for making pontoons, for
-stopping up the harbors, and raising forts and intrenchments. The army
-which these vessels were designed to convey to England amounted to
-thirty thousand strong, besides a body of four thousand cavalry,
-stationed at Courtroi, composed chiefly of the ablest veterans of
-Europe; invigorated by rest (the siege of Sluys having been the only
-enterprise in which they were employed during the last campaign), and
-excited by the hopes of plunder and the expectation of certain conquest.</p>
-
-<p>Philip had been advised by the deserter, Sir William Stanley, not to
-attack England in the first instance, but first to effect a landing and
-secure a strong position in Ireland; his admiral, Santa Cruz, had
-recommended him to make sure, in the first instance, of some large
-harbor on the coast of Holland or Zealand, where the Armada, having
-entered the Channel, might find shelter in case of storm, and whence it
-could sail without difficulty for England; but Philip rejected both
-these counsels, and directed that England itself should be made the
-immediate object of attack; and on the 20th of May the Armada left the
-Tagus, in the pomp and pride of supposed invincibility, and amid the
-shouts of thousands, who believed that England was already conquered.
-But steering to the northward, and before it was clear of the coast of
-Spain,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span> the Armada was assailed by a violent storm, and driven back with
-considerable damage to the ports of Biscay and Galicia. It had, however,
-sustained its heaviest loss before it left the Tagus, in the death of
-the veteran admiral Santa Cruz, who had been destined to guide it
-against England.</p>
-
-<p>This experienced sailor, notwithstanding his diligence and success, had
-been unable to keep pace with the impatient ardor of his master. Philip
-II. had reproached him with his dilatoriness, and had said with
-ungrateful harshness, “You make an ill return for all my kindness to
-you.” These words cut the veteran’s heart, and proved fatal to Santa
-Cruz. Overwhelmed with fatigue and grief, he sickened and died. Philip
-II. had replaced him by Alonzo Perez de Gusman, duke of Medina Sidonia,
-one of the most powerful of the Spanish grandees, but wholly unqualified
-to command such an expedition. He had, however, as his lieutenants, two
-seamen of proved skill and bravery, Juan de Martinez Recalde of Biscay,
-and Miguel Orquendo of Guipuzcoa.</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th of July the Armada, having completely refitted, sailed again
-for the Channel, and reached it without obstruction or observation by
-the English.</p>
-
-<p>The design of the Spaniards was, that the Armada should give them, at
-least for a time, the command of the sea, and that it should join the
-squadron which Parma had collected off Calais. Then, escorted by an
-overpowering naval force, Parma and his army were to embark in their
-flotilla, and cross the sea to England, where they were to be landed,
-together with the troops which the Armada brought from the ports of
-Spain. The scheme<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span> was not dissimilar to one formed against England a
-little more than two centuries afterward.</p>
-
-<p>The orders of King Philip to the Duke of Medina Sidonia were, that he
-should, on entering the Channel, keep near the French coast, and, if
-attacked by the English ships, avoid an action, and steer on to Calais
-Roads, where the Prince of Parma’s squadron was to join him. The hope of
-surprising and destroying the English fleet in Plymouth led the Spanish
-admiral to deviate from these orders, and to stand across to the English
-shore; but, on finding that Lord Howard was coming out to meet him, he
-resumed the original plan, and determined to bend his way steadily
-toward Calais and Dunkirk, and to keep merely on the defensive against
-such squadrons of the English as might come up with him.</p>
-
-<p>It was on Saturday, the 20th of July, that Lord Effingham came in sight
-of his formidable adversaries. The Armada was drawn up in form of a
-crescent, which from horn to horn measured some seven miles. There was a
-southwest wind; and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The
-English let them pass by; and then, following in the rear, commenced an
-attack on them. A running fight now took place, in which some of the
-best ships of the Spaniards were captured; many more received heavy
-damage; while the English vessels, which took care not to close with
-their huge antagonists, but availed themselves of their superior
-celerity in tacking and maneuvering, suffered little comparative loss.</p>
-
-<p>The Spanish admiral showed great judgment and firmness in following the
-line of conduct that had been traced out for him; and on the 27th of
-July he brought his fleet<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span> unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor
-in Calais Roads. The Armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships
-ranged outside, “like strong castles fearing no assault; the lesser
-placed in the middle ward.” The English admiral could not attack them in
-their position without great disadvantage, but on the night of the 29th
-he sent eight fire-ships among them, with almost equal effect to that of
-the fire-ships which the Greeks so often employed against the Turkish
-fleets in their war of independence. The Spaniards cut their cables and
-put to sea in confusion. One of the largest galeasses ran foul of
-another vessel and was stranded. The rest of the fleet was scattered
-about on the Flemish coast, and when the morning broke, it was with
-difficulty and delay that they obeyed their admiral’s signal to range
-themselves round him near Gravelines. Now was the golden opportunity for
-the English to assail them, and prevent them from ever letting loose
-Parma’s flotilla against England; and nobly was that opportunity used.
-Drake and Fenner were the first English captains who attacked the
-unwieldy leviathans: then came Fenton, Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor,
-and then the lord-admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield.
-The Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close together, and
-were driven by the English past Dunkirk, and far away from the Prince of
-Parma, who, in watching their defeat from the coast, must, as Drake
-expressed it, have chafed like a bear robbed of her whelps. This was
-indeed the last and the decisive battle between the two fleets.</p>
-
-<p>Many of the largest Spanish ships were sunk or captured in the action of
-this day. And at length the Span<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span>ish admiral, despairing of success,
-fled northward with a southerly wind, in the hope of rounding Scotland,
-and so returning to Spain without a further encounter with the English
-fleet. Lord Effingham left a squadron to continue the blockade of the
-Prince of Parma’s armament; but that wise general soon withdrew his
-troops to more promising fields of action. Meanwhile the lord-admiral
-himself and Drake chased the vincible Armada, as it was now termed, for
-some distance northward; and then, when it seemed to bend away from the
-Scotch coast toward Norway, it was thought best, in the words of Drake,
-“to leave them to those boisterous and uncouth northern seas.”</p>
-
-<p>The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards sustained in their
-flight round Scotland and Ireland are well known. Of their whole Armada
-only fifty-three shattered vessels brought back their beaten and wasted
-crews to the Spanish coast which they had quitted in such pageantry and
-pride.</p>
-
-<p>At the death of Philip, which occurred on September 13, 1598, he left to
-his son and successor, Philip III., an empire nominally undiminished,
-but unwieldy and internally exhausted. Resources had been squandered.
-The attention of the masses had been turned from industry to war. The
-soldiery once regarded as invincible had lost their prestige in the
-Netherland swamps. Enormous taxes, from which nobles and clergy were
-exempt, were multiplied on the people. That being insufficient, Philip
-III. proved his orthodoxy by completing the work. In 1609 the Moors, or
-Moriscoes, as they were called, were ordered to quit the Peninsula
-within three days, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span> penalty of death was decreed against all who
-failed to obey, and against any Christians who should shelter the
-recalcitrants.</p>
-
-<p>The edict was obeyed, but it was the ruin of Spain. The Moriscoes were
-the backbone of the industrial population, not only in trade and
-manufactures, but also in agriculture. The haughty and indolent
-Spaniards had willingly left what they considered degrading employments
-to their inferiors. The Moors had introduced into Spain the cultivation
-of sugar, cotton, rice and silk. They had established a system of
-irrigation which had given fertility to the soil. The province of
-Valencia in their hands had become a model of agriculture to the rest of
-Europe. In manufactures and commerce they had shown equal superiority to
-the Christian inhabitants, and many of the products of Spain were
-eagerly sought for by other countries. All these advantages were
-sacrificed to an insane desire for religious unity.</p>
-
-<p>The resources of Spain, already exhausted, never recovered from this
-terrible blow. Philip III. died in March, 1621. His reign had not been
-glorious or advantageous to Spain, but it contrasts favorably with those
-of his successors. Spanish literature and art, which had received a
-great impulse from the intercourse with foreign countries under previous
-rulers, reached their zenith during his lifetime. Three writers have
-obtained European fame&mdash;Cervantes, who produced the immortal “Don
-Quixote” between 1605 and 1613, and two of the most fertile of romantic
-dramatists, Lope de Vega and Calderon. In the domain of art, Spain
-produced two of the greatest<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> masters of the seventeenth century,
-Velasquez and Murillo.</p>
-
-<p>Philip II. was succeeded by Philip III. After him came Philip IV. and
-then Charles II. Of these monarchs Mignet said: “Philip II. was merely a
-king. Philip III. and Philip IV. were not kings, and Charles II. was not
-even a man.” The death of the latter precipitated the War of the
-Succession, the military operations of which were rendered famous by the
-military exploits of Eugene and Marlborough. But this is not the place
-to recite them. The chief scenes of hostilities were the Netherlands,
-Germany and Italy, and their narration belongs more properly to the
-histories of these lands. Suffice it to say that by the Treaty of
-Utrecht war was concluded in 1711, and Philip V., a Bourbon, second
-grandson of Louis XIV., was, in accordance with the will of Charles II.,
-acknowledged King of Spain. By the same treaty England gained Gibraltar,
-while the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples and Sardinia were ceded to
-Austria.</p>
-
-<p>With the accession of a Bourbon, Spain entered into a new period of
-history, during which it once more played a part in the politics of
-Europe, as also in its wars; those, for instance, of the Polish and
-Austrian successions&mdash;the country meanwhile being additionally embroiled
-with England.</p>
-
-<p>Philip V. was succeeded by Ferdinand VI., and the latter by Charles
-III., whose death, together with the accession of Charles IV., were
-contemporary with the French Revolution. The execution of Louis XVI.
-made a profound impression on a country where loyalty was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span>
-superstition. Charles IV. was roused to demand vengeance for the insult
-to his family. Godoy, the Prime Minister, could but follow the national
-impulse; and Spain became a member of the first coalition against
-France. But the two campaigns which ensued provoked the contempt of
-Europe. They form a catalogue of defeats. Under the circumstances it is
-no wonder that Spain followed the example of Prussia and concluded a
-treaty of peace.</p>
-
-<p>The next event of importance was Napoleon’s famous coup de main&mdash;the
-seizure of the Spanish royal family at Bayonne&mdash;the jugglery which he
-performed with the crown, its transference by him from Ferdinand VII.
-(son of Charles IV.) to Joseph Bonaparte, and the revolt of the South
-American colonies which that act produced.</p>
-
-<p>Then came the restoration of Spanish independence through England’s aid;
-Wellington’s famous campaign; the battles of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos;
-the entry into Madrid; the retreat of Joseph to Valencia; Napoleon’s
-crushing defeat at Leipzig, and Ferdinand’s return from captivity at
-Valençay.</p>
-
-<p>The circumstances through which these last-mentioned events were induced
-or precipitated, and which are collectively known as the Peninsular War,
-originated at the moment when Napoleon was practically master of Europe.
-Its whole face was changed. Prussia was occupied by French troops.
-Holland was changed into a monarchy by a simple decree of the French
-emperor, and its crown bestowed on his brother Louis. Another brother,
-Jerome, became King of Westphalia, a new realm built up out of the
-electorates<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span> of Hesse-Cassel and Hanover. A third brother, Joseph, was
-made King of Naples; while the rest of Italy, and even Rome itself, was
-annexed to the French empire. It was the hope of effectually crushing
-the world-power of Britain which drove him to his worst aggression, the
-aggression upon Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Napoleon acted with his usual subtlety. In October, 1807, France and
-Spain agreed to divide Portugal between them; and on the advance of
-their forces the reigning House of Braganza fled helplessly from Lisbon
-to a refuge in Brazil. But the seizure of Portugal was only a prelude to
-the seizure of Spain. Charles IV., whom a riot in his capital drove at
-this moment to abdication, and his son, Ferdinand VII., were drawn to
-Bayonne in May, 1808, and forced to resign their claims to the Spanish
-crown; while a French army entered Madrid and proclaimed Napoleon’s
-brother Joseph king of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>This high-handed act of aggression was hardly completed when Spain rose
-as one man against the stranger; and desperate as the effort of its
-people seemed, the news of the rising was welcomed throughout England
-with a burst of enthusiastic joy. “Hitherto,” cried Sheridan, a leader
-of the Whig opposition, “Bonaparte has contended with princes without
-dignity, numbers without ardor, or peoples without patriotism. He has
-yet to learn what it is to combat a people who are animated by one
-spirit against him.” Tory and Whig alike held that “never had so happy
-an opportunity existed in Britain to strike a bold stroke for the rescue
-of the world”; and Canning at once resolved to change the system of
-desultory de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span>scents on colonies and sugar islands for a vigorous warfare
-in the Peninsula.</p>
-
-<p>The furious and bloody struggle which ensued found its climax at
-Vittoria, but it would be difficult to find in the whole history of war
-a more thrilling chapter than that which tells of the six great
-campaigns of which the war itself was composed.</p>
-
-<p>The Peninsular War was perhaps the least selfish conflict ever waged. It
-was not a war of aggrandizement or of conquest. It was fought to deliver
-Europe from the despotism of Napoleon. At its close the fleets of Great
-Britain rode triumphant, and in the Peninsula between 1808-14 her land
-forces fought and won nineteen pitched battles, made or sustained ten
-fierce and bloody sieges, took four great fortresses, twice expelled the
-French from Portugal and once from Spain. Great Britain expended in
-these campaigns more than one hundred million pounds sterling on her own
-troops, besides subsidizing the forces of Spain and Portugal. This
-“nation of shopkeepers” proved that when kindled to action it could wage
-war on a scale and in a fashion that might have moved the wonder of
-Alexander or of Cæsar, and from motives too lofty for either Cæsar or
-Alexander so much as to comprehend. It is worth while to tell afresh the
-story of some of the more picturesque incidents in that great strife.</p>
-
-<p>On April 6, 1812, Badajos was stormed by Wellington; and the story forms
-one of the most tragical and splendid incidents in the military history
-of the world. Of “the night of horrors at Badajos,” Napier says,
-“posterity can scarcely be expected to credit the tale.” No tale,
-however, is better authenticated, or, as an example of what disci<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span>plined
-human valor is capable of achieving, better deserves to be told.
-Wellington was preparing for his great forward movement into Spain, the
-campaign which led to Salamanca, the battle in which “forty thousand
-Frenchmen were beaten in forty minutes.” As a preliminary he had to
-capture, under the vigilant eyes of Soult and Marmont, the two great
-border fortresses, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos. He had, to use Napier’s
-phrase, “jumped with both feet” on the first-named fortress, and
-captured it in twelve days with a loss of twelve hundred men and ninety
-officers.</p>
-
-<p>But Badajos was a still harder task. The city stands on a rocky ridge
-which forms the last spur of the Toledo range, and is of extraordinary
-strength. The river Rivillas falls almost at right angles into the
-Guadiana, and in the angle formed by their junction stands Badajos, oval
-in shape, girdled with elaborate defenses, with the Guadiana, five
-hundred yards wide, as its defense to the north, the Rivillas serving as
-a wet ditch to the west, and no less than five great fortified
-outposts&mdash;Saint Roque, Christoval, Picurina, Pardaleras, and a fortified
-bridge-head across the Guadiana&mdash;as the outer zone of its defenses.
-Twice the English had already assailed Badajos, but assailed it in vain.
-It was now held by a garrison five thousand strong, under a soldier,
-General Phillipson, with a real genius for defense, and the utmost art
-had been employed in adding to its defenses. On the other hand,
-Wellington had no means of transport and no battery train, and had to
-make all his preparations under the keen-eyed vigilance of the French.
-Perhaps the strangest collection of artillery ever employed in a great
-siege was that which Wellington<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span> collected from every available quarter
-and used at Badajos. Of the fifty-two pieces, some dated from the days
-of Philip II. and the Spanish Armada, some were cast in the reign of
-Philip III., others in that of John IV. of Portugal, who reigned in
-1640; there were 24-pounders of George II.’s day, and Russian naval
-guns; the bulk of the extraordinary medley being obsolete brass engines
-which required from seven to ten minutes to cool between each discharge.</p>
-
-<p>Wellington, however, was strong in his own warlike genius and in the
-quality of the troops he commanded. He employed eighteen thousand men in
-the siege, and it may well be doubted whether&mdash;if we put the question of
-equipment aside&mdash;a more perfect fighting instrument than the force under
-his orders ever existed. The men were veterans, but the officers on the
-whole were young, so there was steadiness in the ranks and fire in the
-leading. Hill and Graham covered the siege, Picton and Barnard, Kempt
-and Colville led the assaults. The trenches were held by the third,
-fourth, and fifth divisions, and by the famous light division. Of the
-latter it has been said that the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the
-Great, the Tenth Legion of Cæsar, the famous Spanish infantry of Alva,
-or the iron soldiers who followed Cortes to Mexico, did not exceed it in
-warlike quality. Wellington’s troops, too, had a personal grudge against
-Badajos, and had two defeats to avenge. Perhaps no siege in history, as
-a matter of fact, ever witnessed either more furious valor in the
-assault, or more of cool and skilled courage in the defense. The siege
-lasted exactly twenty days, and cost the besiegers five thousand men, or
-an average loss of two hundred and fifty per<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span> day. It was waged
-throughout in stormy weather, with the rivers steadily rising, and the
-tempests perpetually blowing; yet the thunder of the attack never paused
-for an instant.</p>
-
-<p>Wellington’s engineers attacked the city at the eastern end of the oval,
-where the Rivillas served it as a gigantic wet ditch; and the Picurina,
-a fortified hill, ringed by a ditch fourteen feet deep, a rampart
-sixteen feet high, and a zone of mines, acted as an outwork. Wellington,
-curiously enough, believed in night attacks, a sure proof of his faith
-in the quality of the men he commanded; and on the eighth night of the
-siege, at nine o’clock, five hundred men of the third division were
-suddenly flung on the Picurina. The fort broke into a ring of flame, by
-the light of which the dark figures of the stormers were seen leaping
-with fierce hardihood into the ditch and struggling madly up the
-ramparts, or tearing furiously at the palisades. But the defenses were
-strong, and the assailants fell literally in scores.</p>
-
-<p>Napier tells how “the axmen of the light division, compassing the fort
-like prowling wolves,” discovered the gate at the rear, and so broke
-into the fort. The engineer officer who led the attack declares that
-“the place would never have been taken had it not been for the coolness
-of these men” in absolutely walking round the fort to its rear,
-discovering the gate, and hewing it down under a tempest of bullets. The
-assault lasted an hour, and in that period, out of the five hundred men
-who attacked, no less than three hundred, with nineteen officers, were
-killed or wounded! Three men out of every<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span> five in the attacking force,
-that is, were disabled, and yet they won!</p>
-
-<p>There followed twelve days of furious industry, of trenches pushed
-tirelessly forward through mud and wet, and of cannonading that only
-ceased when the guns grew too hot to be used. Captain MacCarthy, of the
-Fiftieth Regiment, has left a curious little monograph on the siege,
-full of incidents, half tragic and half amusing, but which show the
-temper of Wellington’s troops. Thus he tells how an engineer officer,
-when marking out the ground for a breaching-battery very near the wall,
-which was always lined with French soldiers in eager search of human
-targets, “used to challenge them to prove the perfection of their
-shooting by lifting up the skirts of his coat in defiance several times
-in the course of his survey; driving in his stakes and measuring his
-distances with great deliberation, and concluding by an extra shake of
-his coat-tails and an ironical bow before he stepped under shelter!”</p>
-
-<p>On the night of April 6, Wellington determined to assault. No less than
-seven attacks were to be delivered. Two of them&mdash;on the bridge-head
-across the Guadiana and on the Pardaleras&mdash;were mere feints. But on the
-extreme right Picton with the third division was to cross the Rivillas
-and escalade the castle, whose walls rose, time-stained and grim, from
-eighteen to twenty-four feet high. Leith with the fifth division was to
-attack the opposite or western extremity of the town, the bastion of San
-Vincente, where the glacis was mined, the ditch deep, and the scarp
-thirty feet high. Against the actual breaches Colville and Andrew
-Barnard were to lead the light division<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> and the fourth division, the
-former attacking the bastion of Santa Maria and the latter the Trinidad.
-The hour was fixed for ten o’clock, and the story of that night attack,
-as told in Napier’s immortal prose, is one of the great battle-pictures
-of literature; and any one who tries to tell the tale will find himself
-slipping insensibly into Napier’s cadences.</p>
-
-<p>The night was black; a strange silence lay on rampart and trench, broken
-from time to time by the deep voices of the sentinels that proclaimed
-all was well in Badajos. “Sentinelle garde à vous,” the cry of the
-sentinels, was translated by the British private as “All’s well in
-Badahoo!” A lighted carcass thrown from the castle discovered Picton’s
-men standing in ordered array, and compelled them to attack at once.
-MacCarthy, who acted as guide across the tangle of wet trenches and the
-narrow bridge that spanned the Rivillas, has left an amusing account of
-the scene. At one time Picton declared MacCarthy was leading them wrong,
-and, drawing his sword, swore he would cut him down. The column reached
-the trench, however, at the foot of the castle walls, and was instantly
-overwhelmed with the fire of the besieged. MacCarthy says we can only
-picture the scene by “supposing that all the stars, planets, and meteors
-of the firmament, with innumerable moons emitting smaller ones in their
-course, were descending on the heads of the besiegers.” MacCarthy
-himself, a typical and gallant Irishman, addressed his general with the
-exultant remark, “<span class="lftspc">’</span>Tis a glorious night, sir&mdash;a glorious night!” and,
-rushing forward to the head of the stormers, shouted, “Up with the
-ladders!” The five ladders were raised, the troops swarmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span> up, an
-officer leading, but the first files were at once crushed by cannon
-fire, and the ladders slipped into the angle of the abutments. “Dreadful
-their fall,” records MacCarthy of the slaughtered stormers, “and
-appalling their appearance at daylight.” One ladder remained, and, a
-private soldier leading, the eager red-coated crowd swarmed up it. The
-brave fellow leading was shot as soon as his head appeared above the
-parapet; but the next man to him&mdash;again a private&mdash;leaped over the
-parapet, and was followed quickly by others, and this thin stream of
-desperate men climbed singly, and in the teeth of the flashing musketry,
-up that solitary ladder, and carried the castle.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the fourth and light divisions had flung themselves
-with cool and silent speed on the breaches. The storming party of each
-division leaped into the ditch. It was mined, the fuse was kindled, and
-the ditch, crowded with eager soldiery, became in a moment a sort of
-flaming crater, and the storming parties, five hundred strong, were in
-one fierce explosion dashed to pieces. In the light of that dreadful
-flame the whole scene became visible&mdash;the black ramparts, crowded with
-dark figures and glittering arms, on the one side; on the other, the red
-columns of the British, broad and deep, moving steadily forward like a
-stream of human lava. The light division stood at the brink of the
-smoking ditch for an instant, amazed at the sight. “Then,” says Napier,
-“with a shout that matched even the sound of the explosion,” they leaped
-into it and swarmed up to the breach. The fourth division came running
-up and descended with equal fury but the ditch opposite the Trinidad was
-filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span> water; the head of the division leaped into it, and, as
-Napier puts it, “about one hundred of the fusiliers, the men of Albuera,
-perished there.” The breaches were impassable. Across the top of the
-great slope of broken wall glittered a fringe of sword-blades,
-sharp-pointed, keen-edged on both sides, fixed in ponderous beams
-chained together and set deep in the ruins. For ten feet in front the
-ascent was covered with loose planks, studded with sharp iron points.
-Behind the glittering edge of sword-blades stood the solid ranks of the
-French, each man supplied with three muskets, and their fire scourged
-the British ranks like a tempest.</p>
-
-<p>Hundreds had fallen, hundreds were still falling; but the British clung
-doggedly to the lower slopes, and every few minutes an officer would
-leap forward with a shout, a swarm of men would instantly follow him,
-and, like leaves blown by a whirlwind, they swept up the ascent. But
-under the incessant fire of the French, the assailants melted away. One
-private reached the sword-blades, and actually thrust his head beneath
-them till his brains were beaten out, so desperate was his resolve to
-get into Badajos. The breach, as Napier describes it, “yawning and
-glittering with steel, resembled the mouth of a huge dragon belching
-forth smoke and flame.” But for two hours, and until two thousand men
-had fallen, the stubborn British persisted in their attacks. Currie, of
-the 52d, a cool and most daring soldier, found a narrow ramp beyond the
-Santa Maria breach only half-ruined; he forced his way back through the
-tumult and carnage to where Wellington stood watching the scene,
-obtained an unbroken battalion from the reserve, and led it toward<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span> the
-broken ramp. But his men were caught in the whirling madness of the
-ditch and swallowed up in the tumult. Nicholas, of the engineers, and
-Shaw of the 43d, with some fifty soldiers, actually climbed into the
-Santa Maria bastion, and from thence tried to force their way into the
-breach. Every man was shot down except Shaw, who stood alone on the
-bastion. “With inexpressible coolness he looked at his watch, said it
-was too late to carry the breaches,” and then leaped down! The British
-could not penetrate the breach; but they would not retreat. They could
-only die where they stood. The buglers of the reserve were sent to the
-crest of the glacis to sound the retreat; the troops in the ditch would
-not believe the signal to be genuine, and struck their own buglers who
-attempted to repeat it. “Gathering in dark groups, and leaning on their
-muskets,” says Napier, “they looked up in sullen desperation at
-Trinidad, while the enemy, stepping out on the ramparts, and aiming
-their shots by the light of fire-balls, which they threw over, asked as
-their victims fell, ‘Why they did not come into Badajos.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>All this while, curiously enough, Picton was actually in Badajos, and
-held the castle securely, but made no attempt to clear the breach. On
-the extreme west of the town, however, at the bastion of San Vincente,
-the fifth division made an attack as desperate as that which was failing
-at the breaches. When the stormers actually reached the bastion, the
-Portuguese battalions, who formed part of the attack, dismayed by the
-tremendous fire which broke out on them, flung down their ladders and
-fled. The British, however, snatched the ladders up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span> forced the
-barrier, jumped into the ditch, and tried to climb the walls. These were
-thirty feet high, and the ladders were too short. A mine was sprung in
-the ditch under the soldiers’ feet; beams of wood, stones, broken
-wagons, and live shells were poured upon their heads from above. Showers
-of grape from the flank swept the ditch.</p>
-
-<p>The stubborn soldiers, however, discovered a low spot in the rampart,
-placed three ladders against it, and climbed with reckless valor. The
-first man was pushed up by his comrades; he, in turn, dragged others up,
-and the unconquerable British at length broke through and swept the
-bastion. The tumult still stormed and raged at the eastern breaches,
-where the men of the light and fourth division were dying sullenly, and
-the men of the fifth division marched at speed across the town to take
-the great eastern breach in the rear. The streets were empty, but the
-silent houses were bright with lamps. The men of the fifth pressed on;
-they captured mules carrying ammunition to the breaches, and the French,
-startled by the tramp of the fast-approaching column, and finding
-themselves taken in the rear, fled. The light and fourth divisions broke
-through the gap hitherto barred by flame and steel, and Badajos was won!</p>
-
-<p>In that dreadful night assault the English lost three thousand five
-hundred men. “Let it be considered,” says Napier, “that this frightful
-carnage took place in the space of less than a hundred yards
-square&mdash;that the slain died not all suddenly, nor by one manner of
-death&mdash;that some perished by steel, some by shot, some by water; that
-some were crushed and mangled by heavy weights,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span> some trampled upon,
-some dashed to atoms by the fiery explosions&mdash;that for hours this
-destruction was endured without shrinking, and the town was won at last.
-Let these things be considered, and it must be admitted a British army
-bears with it an awful power. And false would it be to say the French
-were feeble men. The garrison stood and fought manfully and with good
-discipline, behaving worthily. Shame there was none on any side. Yet who
-shall do justice to the bravery of the British soldiers or the noble
-emulation of the officers?... No age, no nation, ever sent forth braver
-troops to battle than those who stormed Badajos.”</p>
-
-<p>In addition to Badajos, the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and of San Sebastian
-deserve mention. The annals of strife nowhere record assaults more
-daring than those which raged in turn around these three great
-fortresses. Of them all that of Badajos was the most picturesque and
-bloody; that of San Sebastian the most sullen and exasperating; that of
-Ciudad Rodrigo the swiftest and most brilliant. A great siege tests the
-fighting quality of an army as nothing else can test it. In the night
-watches in the trenches, in the dogged toil of the batteries, and the
-crowded perils of the breach, all the frippery and much of the real
-discipline of an army dissolves. The soldiers fall back upon what may be
-called the primitive fighting qualities&mdash;the hardihood of the individual
-soldier, the daring with which the officers will lead, the dogged
-loyalty with which the men will follow. As an illustration of the
-warlike qualities in a race by which empire has been achieved, nothing
-better can be desired than the story of how the breaches were won at
-Ciudad Rodrigo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>At the end of 1811 the English and the French were watching each other
-jealously across the Spanish border. The armies of Marmont and of Soult,
-sixty-seven thousand strong, lay within touch of each other, barring
-Wellington’s entrance into Spain. Wellington, with thirty-five thousand
-men, of whom not more than ten thousand men were British, lay within
-sight of the Spanish frontier. It was the winter time. Wellington’s army
-was wasted by sickness, his horses were dying of mere starvation, his
-men had received no pay for three months, and his muleteers none for
-eight months. He had no siege train, his regiments were ragged and
-hungry, and the French generals confidently reckoned the British army
-as, for the moment at least, une quantite negligeable.</p>
-
-<p>And yet at that precise moment, Wellington, subtle and daring, was
-meditating a leap upon the great frontier fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, in
-the Spanish province of Salamanca. Its capture would give him a safe
-base of operations against Spain; it was the great frontier place
-d’armes for the French; the whole siege equipage and stores of the army
-of Portugal were contained in it. The problem of how, in the depth of
-winter, without materials for a siege, to snatch a place so strong from
-under the very eyes of two armies, each stronger than his own, was a
-problem which might have taxed the warlike genius of a Cæsar. But
-Wellington accomplished it with a combination of subtlety and audacity
-simply marvelous.</p>
-
-<p>He kept the secret of his design so perfectly that his own engineers
-never suspected it, and his adjutant-general, Murray, went home on leave
-without dreaming anything was going to happen. Wellington collected
-artillery<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span> ostensibly for the purpose of arming Almeida, but the guns
-were transshipped at sea and brought secretly to the mouth of the Douro.
-No less than eight hundred mule-carts were constructed without anybody
-guessing their purpose. Wellington, while these preparations were on
-foot, was keenly watching Marmont and Soult, till he saw that they were
-lulled into a state of mere yawning security, and then, in Napier’s
-expressive phrase, he “instantly jumped with both feet upon Ciudad
-Rodrigo.”</p>
-
-<p>This famous fortress, in shape, roughly resembles a triangle with the
-angles truncated. The base, looking to the south, is covered by the
-Agueda, a river given to sudden inundations; the fortifications were
-strong and formidably armed; as outworks it had to the east the great
-fortified Convent of San Francisco, to the west a similar building
-called Santa Cruz; while almost parallel with the northern face rose two
-rocky ridges called the Great and Small Teson, the nearest within six
-hundred yards of the city ramparts, and crowned by a formidable redoubt
-called Francisco. The siege began on January 8. The soil was rocky and
-covered with snow, the nights were black, the weather bitter. The men
-lacked intrenching tools. They had to encamp on the side of the Agueda
-furthest from the city, and ford that river every time the trenches were
-relieved. The 1st, 3d, and light divisions formed the attacking force;
-each division held the trenches in turn for twenty-four hours. Let the
-reader imagine what degree of hardihood it took to wade in the gray and
-bitter winter dawn through a half-frozen river, and, without fire or
-warm food, and under a ceaseless rain of shells from the enemy’s guns,
-to toil in the frozen trenches, or to keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> watch, while the icicles
-hung from eyebrow and beard, over the edge of the battery for
-twenty-four hours in succession.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing in this great siege is more wonderful than the fierce speed with
-which Wellington urged his operations. Massena, who had besieged and
-captured the city the year before in the height of summer, spent a month
-in bombarding it before he ventured to assault. Wellington broke ground
-on January 8, under a tempest of mingled hail and rain; he stormed it on
-the night of the 19th.</p>
-
-<p>He began operations by leaping on the strong work that crowned the Great
-Teson the very night the siege began. Two companies from each regiment
-of the light division were detailed by the officer of the day, Colonel
-Colborne, for the assault. Colborne (afterward Lord Seaton), a cool and
-gallant soldier, called his officers together in a group and explained
-with great minuteness how they were to attack. He then lanched his men
-against the redoubt with a vehemence so swift that, to those who watched
-the scene under the light of a wintry moon, the column of redcoats, like
-the thrust of a crimson sword-blade, spanned the ditch, shot up the
-glacis, and broke through the parapet with a single movement. The
-accidental explosion of a French shell burst the gate open, and the
-remainder of the attacking party instantly swept through it. There was
-fierce musketry fire and a tumult of shouting for a moment or two, but
-in twenty minutes from Colborne’s lanching his attack every Frenchman in
-the redoubt was killed, wounded, or a prisoner.</p>
-
-<p>The fashion in which the gate was blown open was very<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> curious. A French
-sergeant was in the act of throwing a live shell upon the storming party
-in the ditch, when he was struck by an English bullet. The lighted shell
-fell from his hands within the parapet, was kicked away by the nearest
-French in mere self-preservation; it rolled toward the gate, exploded,
-burst it open, and instantly the British broke in.</p>
-
-<p>For ten days a desperate artillery duel raged between the besiegers and
-the besieged. The parallels were resolutely pushed on in spite of rocky
-soil, broken tools, bitter weather, and the incessant pelting of the
-French guns. The temper of the British troops is illustrated by an
-incident which George Napier&mdash;the youngest of the three
-Napiers&mdash;relates. The three brothers were gallant and remarkable
-soldiers. Charles Napier in India and elsewhere made history; William,
-in his wonderful tale of the Peninsular War, wrote history; and George,
-if he had not the literary genius of the one nor the strategic skill of
-the other, was a most gallant soldier. “I was a field-officer of the
-trenches,” he says, “when a 13-inch shell from the town fell in the
-midst of us. I called to the men to lie down flat, and they instantly
-obeyed orders, except one of them, an Irishman and an old marine, but a
-most worthless drunken dog, who trotted up to the shell, the fuse of
-which was still burning, and striking it with his spade, knocked the
-fuse out; then taking the immense shell in his hands, brought it to me,
-saying, ‘There she is for you, now, yer ’anner. I’ve knocked the life
-out of the crater.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>The besieged brought fifty heavy guns to reply to the thirty light
-pieces by which they were assailed, and day<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> and night the bellow of
-eighty pieces boomed sullenly over the doomed city and echoed faintly
-back from the nearer hills, while the walls crashed to the stroke of the
-bullet. The English fire made up by fierceness and accuracy for what it
-lacked in weight; but the sap made no progress, the guns showed signs of
-being worn out, and, although two apparent breaches had been made, the
-counterscarp was not destroyed. Yet Wellington determined to attack,
-and, in his characteristic fashion, to attack by night. The siege had
-lasted ten days, and Marmont, with an army stronger than his own, was
-lying within four marches. That he had not appeared already on the scene
-was wonderful.</p>
-
-<p>In a general order issued on the evening of the 19th Wellington wrote,
-“Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed this evening.” The great breach was a
-sloping gap in the wall at its northern angle, about a hundred feet
-wide. The French had crowned it with two guns loaded with grape, the
-slope was strewn with bombs, hand-grenades and bags of powder; a great
-mine pierced it beneath; a deep ditch had been cut between the breach
-and the adjoining ramparts, and these were crowded with riflemen. The
-third division, under General Mackinnon, was to attack the breach, its
-forlorn hope being led by Ensign Mackie, its storming party by General
-Mackinnon himself. The lesser breach was a tiny gap, scarcely twenty
-feet wide, to the left of the great breach; this was to be attacked by
-the light division, under Craufurd, its forlorn hope of twenty-five men
-being led by Gurwood, and its storming party by George Napier. General
-Pack, with a Portuguese brigade, was to make a sham attack<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span> on the
-eastern face, while a fourth attack was to be made on the southern front
-by a company of the 83d and some Portuguese troops. In the storming
-party of the 83d were the Earl of March, afterward Duke of Richmond;
-Lord Fitzroy Somerset, afterward Lord Raglan; and the Prince of
-Orange&mdash;all volunteers without Wellington’s knowledge!</p>
-
-<p>At seven o’clock a curious silence fell suddenly on the battered city
-and the engirdling trenches. Not a light gleamed from the frowning
-parapets, not a murmur arose from the blackened trenches. Suddenly a
-shout broke out on the right of the English attack; it ran, a wave of
-stormy sound, along the line of the trenches. The men who were to attack
-the great breach leaped into the open. In a moment the space between the
-hostile lines was covered with the stormers, and the gloomy, half-seen
-face of the great fortress broke into a tempest of fire.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing could be finer than the vehement courage of the assault, unless
-it were the cool and steady fortitude of the defense. Swift as was the
-upward rush of the stormers, the race of the 5th, 77th, and 94th
-regiments was almost swifter. Scorning to wait for the ladders, they
-leaped into the great ditch, outpaced even the forlorn hope, and pushed
-vehemently up the great breach, while their red ranks were torn by shell
-and shot. The fire, too, ran through the tangle of broken stones over
-which they climbed; the hand-grenades and powder-bags by which it was
-strewn exploded. The men were walking on fire! Yet the attack could not
-be denied. The Frenchmen&mdash;shooting, stabbing, yelling&mdash;were driven
-be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span>hind their intrenchments. There the fire of the houses commanding the
-breach came to their help, and they made a gallant stand. “None would go
-back on either side, and yet the British could not get forward, and men
-and officers falling in heaps choked up the passage, which from minute
-to minute was raked with grape from two guns flanking the top of the
-breach at the distance of a few yards. Thus striving, and trampling
-alike upon the dead and the wounded, these brave men maintained the
-combat.”</p>
-
-<p>It was the attack on the smaller breach which really carried Ciudad
-Rodrigo; and George Napier, who led it, has left a graphic narrative of
-the exciting experiences of that dreadful night. The light division was
-to attack, and Craufurd, with whom Napier was a favorite, gave him
-command of the storming party. He was to ask for one hundred volunteers
-from each of the three British regiments&mdash;the 43d, 52d, and the rifle
-corps&mdash;in the division. Napier halted these regiments just as they had
-forded the bitterly cold river on their way to the trenches. “Soldiers,”
-he said, “I want one hundred men from each regiment to form the storming
-party which is to lead the light division to-night. Those who will go
-with me come forward!”</p>
-
-<p>Instantly there was a rush forward of the whole division, and Napier had
-to take his three hundred men out of a tumult of nearly one thousand
-five hundred candidates. He formed them into three companies, under
-Captains Ferguson, Jones, and Mitchell. Gurwood, of the 52d, led the
-forlorn hope, consisting of twenty-five men and two sergeants.
-Wellington himself came to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span> trench and showed Napier and Colborne,
-through the gloom of the early night, the exact position of the breach.
-A staff-officer, looking on, said, “Your men are not loaded. Why don’t
-you make them load?” Napier replied, “If we don’t do the business with
-the bayonet we shall not do it at all. I shall not load.”&mdash;“Let him
-alone,” said Wellington; “let him go his own way.” Picton had adopted
-the same grim policy with the third division. As each regiment passed
-him, filing into the trenches, his injunction was, “No powder! We’ll do
-the thing with the <i>could</i> iron.”</p>
-
-<p>A party of Portuguese carrying bags filled with grass were to run with
-the storming party and throw the bags into the ditch, as the leap was
-too deep for the men. But the Portuguese hesitated, the tumult of the
-attack on the great breach suddenly broke on the night, and the forlorn
-hope went running up, leaped into the ditch, a depth of eleven feet, and
-clambered up the steep slope beyond, while Napier with his stormers came
-with a run behind them. In the dark for a moment the breach was lost,
-but found again, and up the steep quarry of broken stone the attack
-swept.</p>
-
-<p>About two-thirds of the way up, Napier’s arm was smashed by a
-grape-shot, and he fell. His men, checked for a moment, lifted their
-muskets to the gap above them, whence the French were firing vehemently,
-and forgetting their pieces were unloaded, snapped them. “Push on with
-the bayonet, men!” shouted Napier, as he lay bleeding. The officers
-leaped to the front, the men with a stern shout followed; they were
-crushed to a front of not more than three or four. They had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span> climb
-without firing a shot in reply up to the muzzles of the French muskets.</p>
-
-<p>But nothing could stop the men of the light division. A 24-pounder was
-placed across the narrow gap in the ramparts; the stormers leaped over
-it, and the 43d and 52d, coming up in sections abreast, followed. The
-43d wheeled to the right toward the great breach, the 52d to the left,
-sweeping the ramparts as they went.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the other two attacks had broken into the town; but at the
-great breach the dreadful fight still raged, until the 43d, coming
-swiftly along the ramparts, and brushing all opposition aside, took the
-defense in the rear. The British there had, as a matter of fact, at that
-exact moment pierced the French defense. The two guns that scourged the
-breach had wrought deadly havoc among the stormers, and a sergeant and
-two privates of the 88th&mdash;Irishmen all, and whose names deserve to be
-preserved&mdash;Brazel, Kelly, and Swan&mdash;laid down their firelocks that they
-might climb more lightly, and, armed only with their bayonets, forced
-themselves through the embrasure among the French gunners. They were
-furiously attacked, and Swan’s arm was hewed off by a saber stroke; but
-they stopped the service of the gun, slew five or six of the French
-gunners, and held the post until the men of the 5th, climbing behind
-them, broke into the battery.</p>
-
-<p>So Ciudad Rodrigo was won, and its governor surrendered his sword to the
-youthful lieutenant leading the forlorn hope of the light division, who,
-with smoke-blackened face, torn uniform, and staggering from a dreadful
-wound, still kept at the head of his men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the eleven days of the siege Wellington lost one thousand three
-hundred men and officers, out of whom six hundred and fifty men and
-sixty officers were struck down on the slopes of the breaches. Two
-notable soldiers died in the attack&mdash;Craufurd, the famous leader of the
-light division, as he brought his men up to the lesser breach; and
-Mackinnon, who commanded a brigade of the third division, at the great
-breach. Mackinnon was a gallant Highlander, a soldier of great promise,
-beloved by his men. His “children,” as he called them, followed him up
-the great breach till the bursting of a French mine destroyed all the
-leading files, including their general. Craufurd was buried in the
-lesser breach itself, and Mackinnon in the great breach&mdash;fitting graves
-for soldiers so gallant.</p>
-
-<p>Alison says that with the rush of the English stormers up the breaches
-of Ciudad Rodrigo “began the fall of the French empire.” That siege, so
-fierce and brilliant, was, as a matter of fact, the first of that
-swift-following succession of strokes which drove the French in ruin out
-of Spain, and it coincided in point of time with the turn of the tide
-against Napoleon in Russia.</p>
-
-<p>But, as already noted, the climax of the war occurred at Vittoria.
-Wellington, overtaking the French at that place, inflicted on them a
-defeat which drove in utter rout one hundred and twenty thousand veteran
-troops from Spain. There is no more brilliant chapter in military
-history; and, at its close, to quote Napier’s clarion-like sentences,
-“the English general, emerging from the chaos of the Peninsular
-struggle, stood on the summit of the Pyrenees a recognized conqueror.
-From those lofty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span> pinnacles the clangor of his trumpets pealed clear and
-loud, and the splendor of his genius appeared as a flaming beacon to
-warring nations.”</p>
-
-<p>The victory not only freed Spain from its invaders; it restored the
-spirit of the allies. The close of the armistice was followed by a union
-of Austria with the forces of Prussia and the Czar; and in October a
-final overthrow of Napoleon at Leipzig forced the French army to fall
-back in rout across the Rhine. The war now hurried to its close. Though
-held at bay for a while by the sieges of San Sebastian and Pampeluna, as
-well as by an obstinate defense of the Pyrenees, Wellington succeeded in
-the very month of the triumph at Leipzig in winning a victory on the
-Bidassoa which enabled him to enter France. He was soon followed by the
-allies. On the last day of 1813 their forces crossed the Rhine; and a
-third of France passed, without opposition, into their hands. For two
-months more Napoleon maintained a wonderful struggle with a handful of
-raw conscripts against their overwhelming numbers; while in the south,
-Soult, forced from his intrenched camp near Bayonne and defeated at
-Orthes, fell back before Wellington on Toulouse. Here their two armies
-met in April in a stubborn and indecisive engagement. But though neither
-leader knew it, the war was even then at an end. The struggle of
-Napoleon himself had ended at the close of March with the surrender of
-Paris; and the submission of the capital was at once followed by the
-abdication of the emperor and the return of Ferdinand.</p>
-
-<p>After the convulsions it had endured, Spain required a period of firm
-but conciliatory government; but the ill<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span>-fate of the country gave the
-throne at this crisis to the worst of her Bourbon kings. Ferdinand VII.
-had never possessed the good qualities which popular credulity had
-assigned to him, and he had learned nothing in his four years’ captivity
-except an aptitude for lying and intrigue. He had no conception of the
-duties of a ruler; his public conduct was regulated by pride and
-superstition, and his private life was stained by the grossest sensual
-indulgence.</p>
-
-<p>But Spain was not allowed to work out its own salvation. Europe was
-dominated at this time by the Holy Alliance, which disguised a
-resolution to repress popular liberties and to maintain despotism under
-a pretended zeal for piety, justice and brotherly love. At the Congress
-of Verona (October, 1822), France, Austria, Russia and Prussia agreed
-upon armed intervention in Spain, in spite of the protest of Canning on
-the part of England. Spain was to be called upon to alter her
-constitution and to grant greater liberty to the king, and if an
-unsatisfactory answer were received France was authorized to take active
-measures. The demand was unhesitatingly refused, and a French army,
-100,000 strong, at once entered Spain under the Duke of Angouleme
-(April, 1823). No effective resistance was made, and Madrid was entered
-by the invaders (May 23). The Cortes, however, had carried off the king
-to Seville, whence they again retreated to Cadiz. The bombardment of
-that city terminated the revolution and Ferdinand was released (October
-1). His first act was to revoke everything that had been done since
-1819. The Inquisition was not restored, but the secular tribunals took a
-terrible revenge upon the leaders of the re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span>bellion. The protest of the
-Duke of Angouleme against these cruelties was unheeded. Even the fear of
-revolt, the last check upon despotism, was removed by the presence of
-the French army, which remained in Spain till 1827. But Spain had to pay
-for the restoration of the royal absolutism, as Canning backed up his
-protest against the intervention of France by acknowledging the
-independence of the Spanish colonies.</p>
-
-<p>Ferdinand VII. was enabled to finish his worthless and disastrous reign
-in comparative peace. In 1829 he married a fourth wife, Maria Christina
-of Naples, and at the same time he issued a “Pragmatic Sanction”
-abolishing the Salic law in Spain. No one expected any practical results
-from this edict, but a formal protest was made against it by the king’s
-brothers, Carlos and Francisco, and also by the French and Neapolitan
-Bourbons. In the next year, however, the queen gave birth to a daughter,
-Isabella, who was proclaimed as queen on her father’s death in 1833,
-while her mother undertook the office of regent.</p>
-
-<p>Don Carlos at once asserted his intention of maintaining the Salic law,
-and rallied round him all the supporters of absolutism, especially the
-inhabitants of the Basque Provinces. Christina was compelled to rely
-upon the Liberals, and to conciliate them by the grant of a
-constitution, the estatuto real, which established two chambers chosen
-by indirect election. But this constitution, drawn up under the
-influence of Louis Philippe of France, failed to satisfy the advanced
-Liberals, and the Christinos split into two parties, the Moderados and
-Progresistas. In 1836 the latter party extorted from the regent the
-re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span>vival of the constitution of 1812. All this time the government was
-involved in a desperate struggle with the Carlists, who at first gained
-considerable successes under Zumalacarregui and Cabrera. But the death
-of Zumalacarregui in 1835 and the support of France and England
-ultimately gave the regent the upper hand, and in 1839 her general,
-Espartoro, forced the Basque Provinces to submit to Isabella. Don Carlos
-renounced his claims in favor of his eldest son, another Carlos, and
-retired to Trieste, where he died in 1855.</p>
-
-<p>Christina now tried to sever herself from the Progresistas, and to
-govern with the help of the moderate party who enjoyed the patronage of
-Louis Philippe. But England, jealous of French influence at Madrid,
-threw the weight of her influence on to the side of the Radicals, who
-found a powerful leader in Espartero. In 1840, Christina had to retire
-to France, and Espartero was recognized as regent by the Cortes. But his
-elevation was resented by the other officers, while his subservience to
-England made him unpopular, and in 1848 he also had to go into exile.
-Isabella was now declared of age. Christina returned to Madrid, and the
-Moderados under Narvaez obtained complete control over the government.
-This was a great victory for France, and Louis Philippe abused his
-success by negotiating the infamous “Spanish marriages.” A husband was
-found for Isabella in her cousin, Francis of Assis, whose recommendation
-in French eyes was the improbability of his begetting children. On the
-same day the queen’s sister, Maria Louisa, was married to Louis
-Philippe’s son, the Duke of Montpensier. By this means it was hoped to
-secure the reversion of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span> Spanish throne for the House of Orleans.
-The scheme recoiled on the heads of those who framed it. The alienation
-of England gave a fatal impulse to the fall of Louis Philippe, while the
-subsequent birth of children to Isabella deprived the Montpensier
-marriage of all importance.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish history during the reign of Isabella II. presents a dismal
-picture of faction and intrigue. The queen herself sought compensation
-for her unhappy marriage in sensual indulgence, and tried to cover the
-dissoluteness of her private life by a superstitious devotion to
-religion and by throwing her influence to the side of the clerical and
-reactionary party. Every now and then the Progresistas and Moderados
-forced themselves into office, but their mutual jealousy prevented them
-from acquiring any permanent hold upon the government. In 1866, Isabella
-was induced to take vigorous measures against the Liberal opposition.
-Narvaez was appointed chief minister; and the most prominent Liberals,
-Serrano, Prim and O’Donnell, had to seek safety in exile. The Cortes
-were dissolved, and many of the deputies were transported to the Canary
-Islands. The ascendency of the court party was maintained by a rigorous
-persecution, which was continued after Narvaez’s death (April, 1868) by
-Gonzales Bravo.</p>
-
-<p>Common dangers succeeded at last in combining the various sections of
-the Liberals for mutual defense, and the people, disgusted by the
-scandals of the court and the contemptible camarilla which surrounded
-the queen, rallied to their side. In September, 1868, Serrano and Prim
-returned to Spain, where they raised the standard of revolt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span> and offered
-the people the bribe of universal suffrage. The revolution was speedily
-accomplished and Isabella fled to France, but the successful rebels were
-at once confronted with the difficulty of finding a successor for her.
-During the interregnum Serrano undertook the regency and the Cortes drew
-up a now constitution by which a hereditary king was to rule in
-conjunction with a senate and a popular chamber.</p>
-
-<p>As no one of the Bourbon candidates for the throne was acceptable, it
-became necessary to look around for some foreign prince. The offer of
-the crown to Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen excited the jealousy of
-France, and gave Napoleon III. the opportunity of picking a quarrel,
-which proved fatal to himself, with the rising state of Prussia. At last
-a king was found (1870) in Amadeus of Aosta, the second son of Victor
-Emmanuel, who made an honest effort to discharge the difficult office of
-a constitutional king in a country which was hardly fitted for
-constitutional government. But he found the task too hard and too
-distasteful, and resigned in 1878.</p>
-
-<p>A provisional republic was now formed, of which Castelar was the guiding
-spirit. But the Spaniards, trained to regard monarchy with superstitious
-reverence, had no sympathy with republican institutions. Don Carlos
-seized the opportunity to revive the claim of inalienable male
-succession, and raised the standard of revolt in the Basque Provinces,
-where his name was still a power. The disorders of the democrats and the
-approach of civil war threw the responsibility of government upon the
-army. The Cortes were dissolved by a military <i>coup d’etat</i>; Cas<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span>telar
-threw up his office in disgust; and the administration was undertaken by
-a committee of officers. Anarchy was suppressed with a strong hand, but
-it was obvious that order could only be restored by reviving the
-monarchy. Foreign princes were no longer thought of, and the crown was
-offered to and accepted by Alfonso XII., the young son of the exiled
-Isabella (1874).</p>
-
-<p>His first task was to terminate the Carlist war, which still continued
-in the north, and this was successfully accomplished in 1876. Time was
-required to restore the prosperity of Spain under a peaceful and orderly
-government and to consolidate by prescription the authority of the
-restored dynasty. Unfortunately a premature death carried off Alfonso
-XII. in 1885, before he could complete the work which circumstances laid
-upon him. The regency was intrusted to his widow, Christina of Austria,
-and the birth of a posthumous son (May 17, 1886), who is now the titular
-king of Spain, has excited a feeling of pitying loyalty which may help
-to secure the Bourbon dynasty in the last kingdom which is left to it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">COLONIAL SPAIN</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">COLUMBUS&mdash;SIGHTING OF SAN SALVADOR&mdash;RETURN OF COLUMBUS&mdash;FOUNDING OF AN
-EMPIRE&mdash;MEXICO AND PERU&mdash;THE WEST INDIES&mdash;GERMS OF REBELLION</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">In</span> August, 1492, Columbus sailed on his voyage of discovery. In
-September, 1898, his remains were conveyed from the New World to the
-Old. Between those two dates an empire rose and fell. The causes which
-led to the one and the effects which precipitated the other may now be
-conveniently considered.</p>
-
-<p>In earlier years Cadiz was a famous seaport. Her sons were immemorial
-explorers. The presentiment of a land across the sea was theirs by
-intuition. Constantly they extended their expeditions, and would have
-extended them still further had not the Church interfered. The spirit of
-enterprise, checked as heretical, revived centuries later in a
-neighboring land. It was Portugal that it inspired. There the work of
-exploration and discovery was resumed. The island of Madeira was reached
-in 1420, the Azores annexed in 1431. But it was along the African coast
-that Portuguese effort was mainly directed. Tradition asserted that the
-entire continent had been circumnavigated centuries before by voyagers
-from Phœnicia; but, as no details were recorded, the adventure was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span>
-regarded as something more than dubious. However, the west coast began
-now to be systematically explored. Nuno Tristao entered the Senegal
-River in 1445; a year later Diniz Dias, a fellow-navigator, sailed as
-far as Cape Verd. The equator was not crossed until 1471; the Congo was
-revealed in 1484; and in 1486 the crowning feat of all was accomplished,
-when Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Stormy Cape, soon to become known as
-the Cape of Good Hope, and opened up communication with the East by
-water, instead of overland or by the indirect route of the Red Sea,
-which necessitated the transshipment of all merchandise conveyed that
-way.</p>
-
-<p>The expedition to the west which Columbus ultimately directed was
-conceived by him in 1474, and unfolded to John II., king of Portugal, by
-whom, however, it was rejected; whereupon Columbus dispatched his
-brother Bartholomew to enter into negotiations with Henry VII. of
-England, and after assuring himself that neither Genoa nor Venice was
-likely to lend him a willing ear, much less ready help, he repaired to
-the south of Spain in 1485.</p>
-
-<p>Had Bartholomew not fallen into the hands of pirates, and so been
-prevented from reaching his destination for several years, it is more
-than probable that the credit as well as the profit of the discovery of
-America would have fallen at once to England, as Henry had both the
-means and the inclination to indulge in some such venture, provided it
-was not too costly, and showed any reasonable prospect of success. As it
-was, Christopher was left to pursue his pleadings before the Spanish
-Court.</p>
-
-<p>It was an unfortunate time to put forward any proposals calculated to
-divert the wealth and strength of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span> kingdom beyond its own borders;
-for Ferdinand and Isabella were then in the very midst of the campaign
-which ended in the final overthrow of the Moorish dominion, in the
-Peninsula.</p>
-
-<p>Ultimately, however, after the fall of Granada and eighteen years of
-waiting, his proposals were accepted by Isabella and his hopes realized.
-A royal edict constituted him perpetual and hereditary admiral and
-viceroy of any territories discovered, together with a tenth of any
-profits derived therefrom. With this edict and funds advanced by the
-receiver of ecclesiastical revenues, Columbus hastened to the port of
-Palos. There, two brothers by the name of Pinzon aiding, he got together
-a crew of a hundred and twenty men, a scratch armada of three leaky
-tubs&mdash;the “Santa Maria,” the “Pinta” and the “Nina”&mdash;and, on the 3d of
-August, 1492, weighed anchor for pastures new.</p>
-
-<p>Columbus, as admiral of the fleet, commanded the “Santa Maria”; the two
-Pinzons, Martin Alonzo and Vicente Yanez, the “Pinta” and “Nina”
-respectively. The expressed object of the voyage was to convert the
-Grand Khan, supposed to be the great potentate of the Far East, to
-Christianity; and Columbus never doubted but that in due course he would
-arrive at Japan, or Zipangu, as it had been named by the Venetian
-explorer, Marco Polo, who had reached it by an overland route more than
-a century before, and had described its wonders, together with those of
-Cathay or China, through which he passed on his way. The one condition
-imposed was, that the squadron should not touch at any place on the
-African continent, claimed to be under Portuguese<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span> jurisdiction, as that
-would have led to immediate hostilities between the two countries.</p>
-
-<p>The details of the voyage are sufficiently familiar to dispense with
-narration here. It will suffice to note that after seventy days the
-island of San Salvador, as it was then named, hove in sight; that on the
-28th of October, sixteen days later, Cuba was discovered, and that on
-the 6th of December Hayti was reached.</p>
-
-<p>Several circumstances then made it advisable for Columbus to return to
-Spain without further delay. He had seen enough to be convinced that a
-much larger force than he had under his command would be necessary to
-make the subjugation of these newly acquired territories effective; news
-of the discovery might reach Europe before him, and be taken advantage
-of by some other sovereign than the one to whom he was devoted; and he
-had now sufficient treasure of various kinds to convince the most
-skeptical of the complete success of his enterprise. After constructing
-a small fort, and leaving a portion of the crew, at their own desire, to
-garrison it until he should return, he set sail for home with the “Nina”
-on the 4th of January, 1493.</p>
-
-<p>Reaching Palos on the 13th of March, Columbus was immediately summoned
-to Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella were then domiciled, made a
-triumphal entry into the city, and, on his arrival at the royal
-residence, was welcomed by the king and queen in person, who commanded
-him to be seated by their side, while he related the account of his
-adventures.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the report of the discovery had spread. Portugal sought to
-take advantage of it through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span> theory that all heathen countries were
-in the gift of the Pope, which gift a Bull had already confirmed. But,
-Spain protesting, a subsequent Bull confirmed the Portuguese in their
-existing possessions, and granted them all territory that should be
-discovered east of a line drawn from north to south, one hundred leagues
-west of the Azores, while the Spaniards were to enjoy exclusive dominion
-over everything west of it.</p>
-
-<p>This was regarded as so unsatisfactory by Portugal that, at its
-instigation, negotiations between the two countries were opened, and
-resulted the following year in the conclusion of the Treaty of
-Tordesillas, by which it was agreed to move the line three hundred and
-seventy leagues west of the Azores; a most important change, because by
-it Portugal subsequently established its claim to the Brazils, a portion
-of which was found to fall east of the line of demarcation, while it
-could urge the further plea of having been first in the field, through
-the accidental deviation of Cabral. At any rate, the whole world outside
-Europe was leased in perpetuity to Spain and Portugal; and had the
-pretensions of the Holy See in things temporal as well as spiritual
-continued to be recognized, neither England, France nor Germany could
-to-day own a square yard of territory in the three greatest continents
-of the world.</p>
-
-<p>While the negotiations were in progress, preparations for a second
-expedition on a vastly greater scale were rapidly pushed forward. The
-direction of them was intrusted to a cleric named Fonseca, a capable man
-of business, but who for some reason or other conceived a violent
-dislike to Columbus, and threw every obstacle in his way. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span> eagerness
-to embark on this second voyage was far more marked than the reluctance
-exhibited in the first, and the best blood of Spain pressed into the
-service. The number of adventurers was originally limited to a thousand;
-but the applications were so numerous, from those who believed that
-fortunes were waiting to be picked up in the New World, that this was
-raised to twelve hundred, and fifteen hundred actually sailed in
-seventeen vessels from the Bay of Cadiz on the 25th of September, 1493.
-All was keen anticipation during the voyage, the disappointments only
-commenced at its termination.</p>
-
-<p>“Into these,” says Mr. R. J. Root, whose account we quote, “there is no
-occasion to enter now. The main point of interest is, that a
-sufficiently large force of Spaniards had taken part in the enterprise
-to confirm the possession of the New World to their country, and defeat
-any attempts that Portugal might be likely to make to filch it away.
-After establishing a settlement at Isabella on the north of Hayti, or
-Hispaniola, as it was then named, Columbus was free to prosecute further
-explorations, the principal one being to sail along the southern shores
-of Cuba; but, after continuing his voyage to within a few miles of its
-western extremity, he arrived at the conclusion that it was the
-mainland, and reported to that effect&mdash;nor was it until after his death
-that it was proved to be an island. Everything was claimed for the
-Spanish crown; and, as there were absolutely no competitors, it can well
-be understood how the entire group of islands constituting the West
-Indies became Spanish colonies.</p>
-
-<p>“Various causes compelled Columbus to relinquish his exploration and
-return, first to Hispaniola and then to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span> Spain. For one thing, the two
-vessels with which he set sail were ill-provisioned. With that
-confidence in his own judgment which was so characteristic of the man,
-he relied upon encountering at no great distance those civilized or at
-least semi-civilized, nations of which he had come in search, but
-instead he met only the fierce tribes of Cuba and Jamaica, who offered
-resistance, not welcome, and arrows in lieu of food.</p>
-
-<p>“On his return to the colony, affairs were in a most unsatisfactory
-condition. The last thing most of the colonists dreamed of when they
-left their native shores was work. They had gone out, as they fondly
-imagined, to pick up the gold as it lay at their feet, and when they had
-accumulated sufficient, meant to return and enjoy it. Though Columbus
-had never promised, nor even suggested anything of the sort, his
-brilliant descriptions and anticipations were undoubtedly responsible
-for the ideas so freely indulged, and the indignation against him rose
-just as rapidly as hopes were blasted. Complaints were finding their way
-to Spain, and lest he should be prejudiced in the eyes of his
-sovereigns, he determined to embark thence and render a personal account
-of his stewardship.</p>
-
-<p>“The voyage home was, if anything, more protracted, and entailed greater
-hardships, than the previous one. Columbus arrived at Cadiz on the 1st
-June, 1496, and met with a warmer reception than he had dared to hope
-for. But intrigue was busy, and his arch-enemy Fonseca, who was by this
-time in almost undisputed control of colonial affairs, threw numerous
-and persistent obstacles in the way of his fitting out another
-expedition. The stories told by returned colonists of the want and
-suffering they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span> had endured were not conducive to others volunteering
-for the service, and it was only on the 30th May, 1498, that the admiral
-was again able to set sail from San Lucar with a small fleet of six
-vessels, manned almost entirely by convicts specially released.</p>
-
-<p>“A more southerly course was taken than on either of the previous
-occasions, and the first place touched was the island of Trinidad.
-Sailing round it from the southwest, the ships were suddenly caught and
-swept along by a mighty current, which Columbus discovered to be of
-fresh water, and rightly judged to be poured out of some vast river. He
-had, in fact, reached the coast of South America, and was in the waters
-of the Orinoco as they rushed to mingle with the ocean. The natives
-proved of a more friendly disposition as well as of superior type to
-those encountered in many of the islands; and as they possessed gold,
-and also something still more precious, pearls, every encouragement was
-given them to trade. They were just as eager after the trumpery toys of
-the Old World as the inhabitants of San Salvador had been the first time
-they were ever exhibited in the New, and we may be sure the bargains
-made were very profitable to the Spaniards. Still, these were not the
-people Columbus had come in search of, and his inquiries and labors were
-diligently directed to the discovery of a passage which should lead him
-still further west to the dominions of the Grand Khan.</p>
-
-<p>“After some time vainly spent in exploring the coast with this object,
-an affection of the eyes compelled him to desist and make once more for
-Hispaniola, where he had left his brother Bartholomew as governor during
-his absence. A strange welcome awaited him, however. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span> response to the
-continued complaints of the colonists, a commissioner had been
-dispatched from Spain to inquire into their grievances, and certain
-powers were intrusted to him to assume authority in the island in case
-of necessity. Deeply impressed with a sense of his own importance,
-Francisco Bobadilla, the officer appointed, immediately on his arrival
-began to act in the most reckless and arbitrary manner; and the
-discoverer of the New World, without any warning, found himself
-arrested, loaded with chains, thrown into prison, and finally sent home
-to Spain in this ignominious fashion.</p>
-
-<p>“Great was the public, still greater the royal indignation, when he
-arrived in this sorry plight; every effort was made to soothe the
-feelings so deeply wounded by this dire insult, and Bobadilla would have
-paid dearly for his temerity had he survived to answer for his misdeeds.
-But news had reached Spain of the wonderful riches of the Gulf of Paria
-some time before the arrival of Columbus, and the malignant and untiring
-Fonseca, in direct contravention of the charter conveying the rights to
-the admiral, stimulated private enterprise to follow in the track,
-taking the utmost possible advantage of whatever information he had
-gained in his official capacity, and imparting it to others. An
-expedition was fitted out under Alonzo de Ojeda, one of the most
-dare-devil adventurers who ever quitted the shores of his own or any
-other country, and whose marvelous exploits in Hispaniola had already
-excited the wonder and admiration of men long accustomed to feats of
-skill and courage. Accompanying him was Amerigo Vespucci, a Venetian
-navigator, who strangely enough was destined to give his name to the
-whole of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span> vast continent which he was about to visit for the first
-time, though he never accomplished anything of practical importance in
-it. Several other ships were fitted out, including a caravel of fifty
-tons’ burden by Pedro Alonzo Nino, which performed the most lucrative
-voyage of any vessel or squadron equipped up to that time, and returned
-home well freighted with pearls and other costly treasure. This was
-quite sufficient to stimulate ambition as well as greed, and when
-Columbus arrived he had the mortification of learning that others were
-actively exploiting his preserves.</p>
-
-<p>“While these events were happening, another enterprise was undertaken
-quite beyond the cognizance of the Spanish authorities. Bartholomew
-Columbus, it will be remembered, had proceeded on a mission to Henry
-VII. some years previous; and when the English monarch learned that the
-most sanguine anticipations had been realized, he was anxious to share
-in the results. As early as 1495 he endeavored to equip and dispatch a
-squadron of his own, but it was not until two years later that Sebastian
-Cabot, despite the existence of the Papal Bull, set sail from Bristol.
-Steering a direct westerly course, he struck the coast of Newfoundland,
-and leisurely sailed south almost to the extreme point of Florida, ere
-he resumed his homeward journey. The Spanish government naturally
-protested against this infringement of its rights, and Henry found it
-politic to listen, as he was then in close alliance, and engaged in
-negotiating the marriage between his son and Katharine of Aragon, which
-subsequently proved so pregnant to the religious and ecclesiastical
-destinies of England. It was at a later<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span> period, and under totally
-different circumstances, that the Anglo-Saxon race was to occupy and
-overrun the northern continent.</p>
-
-<p>“Columbus himself was spared to undertake one more voyage, and this time
-it was to be confined exclusively to the continent, he being absolutely
-forbidden to land at Hispaniola, where Nicolas Ovando, with a force of
-all sorts and conditions of men, numbering two thousand five hundred,
-had been installed as governor; and so jealous was he of any
-interference with his prerogatives that, when the admiral was driven by
-stress of weather to take shelter in the harbor of San Domingo, he was
-ordered to quit instantly.</p>
-
-<p>“This proved the most disastrous of all his voyages. After exploring the
-coasts of Honduras and Central America generally, in search of the
-non-existent channel, until the provisions were in such a state that
-they could only be eaten in the dark, it was decided to land, despite
-the fierce opposition of the natives, and plant a permanent settlement
-under Bartholomew, who accompanied his brother. This, however, had to be
-abandoned; and on the way back the only remaining vessel ran aground in
-Dry Harbor in Jamaica, and became a total wreck, the most incredible
-suffering, aggravated by constant mutiny, being experienced, until the
-remnant of the crew was eventually relieved.</p>
-
-<p>“Columbus having shown the way to the mainland, as well as the islands,
-it was left to others to reveal the vast extent and natural wealth of
-what he had discovered, and he died on the 20th May, 1506, in complete
-ignorance of many of the most important facts which his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span> genius and
-tenacity permitted to be made known for the first time to the civilized
-world.</p>
-
-<p>“Columbus and his immediate followers hit upon the most unpromising part
-of the American Continent, where the damp, hot atmosphere, with its
-resulting rank and profuse vegetation, makes human existence intolerable
-if not wellnigh impossible. As the land was known to contain gold,
-however, the most persistent efforts were made to settle in it, and two
-regular governments were established under Alonzo de Ojeda and Diego de
-Nicuessa respectively. Nothing but disaster resulted for many a long
-year, and the greatest difficulties were experienced in extending or
-enlarging them in any direction but coastwise.</p>
-
-<p>“Narrow as the isthmus is in the part selected, it appeared
-impenetrable, until eventually the magic word gold encouraged a few bold
-spirits to overcome every obstacle. Wherever the adventurers went inland
-they heard of a great sea and vast abundance of the precious metal in an
-unknown land beyond. After incredible hardships, Vasco Nunez de Balboa
-and a handful of followers forced their way through the thickets and
-swamps, scaled the mountain range which runs like a backbone along the
-isthmus, and were rewarded for their pains when they reached the summit
-by the sight of the great southern sea lying at their feet. This
-occurred on the 26th September, 1513, and on the following day the party
-descended the western slopes; Vasco Nunez, as its leader and commander,
-taking possession of the Pacific Ocean on behalf of the King of Spain,
-with all the ceremonies and formalities customary on those occasions.</p>
-
-<p>“How to take advantage of it was the question. Far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span> south, beyond where
-vision could reach, lay the golden land. They were without ships or
-means of conveyance of any sort, and the shore upon which they were now
-stranded was dangerous as well as inhospitable. The observant and
-ingenious mind of Nunez, inferior only to that of Columbus, evolved the
-idea of transporting material across the isthmus for the construction of
-a fleet to undertake the subjugation of all countries bordering on the
-Southern Sea; and such was the work eventually accomplished, though not
-by Nunez, who fell a victim to the jealousy and treachery of Pedrarias
-Davila, a new governor dispatched from Spain. It was left to one of his
-lieutenants, Francisco Pizarro, to set forth on a definite expedition
-more than ten years later; and it was not until nearly twenty years had
-elapsed that Peru was discovered, and the rich kingdom of the Incas
-added to the spoils of the Castilian monarch.</p>
-
-<p>“Meanwhile, exploration had been busy on the eastern side of the
-continent. Cuba, realized at length to be an island, was regularly
-colonized in 1511, and the governor, Diego Velasquez, being an
-enterprising and ambitious man, dispatched an expedition westward. The
-great peninsula of Yucatan was reached, and the officers of the little
-squadron were struck by the much higher state of civilization exhibited
-by the natives than by any others hitherto met with either in the
-islands or on the mainland. The news of this led to the subsequent
-expedition of Cortes, the story of whose conquest of Mexico reads more
-like a fairy tale than the narrative of actual events and hard
-realities.</p>
-
-<p>“The years 1519, 1520 and 1521 were occupied by this,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span> the greatest of
-all the enterprises undertaken by Spain in the New World. Nor was there
-any lack of activity in other directions. Juan Ponce sailed from Porto
-Rico, in 1512, in search of a spring whose waters insured perennial
-youth to whoever drank of them, and found and annexed Florida instead.
-More than one navigator cruised southward as far as the Rio de la Plata,
-and in 1520 Magellan reached the extremity of the southern continent,
-and passed through the straits which bear his name. Nor was Cortes idle
-after he had accomplished his great work. North and south he sought to
-add to the territory of New Spain, until all the countries of Central
-America on one side, and the peninsula of California on the other, were
-brought under its sway. In less than half a century from the day
-Columbus first set foot on San Salvador, the entire continent, from
-Labrador to Patagonia, had been visited, and by far the greater part of
-it annexed to, and nominally ruled by, the Castilian crown.</p>
-
-<p>“To return, however, to Hispaniola. The rapid exhaustion which
-mismanagement produced there, joined to the absence of gold, led to the
-creation of other colonies. The discovery of the fisheries, first at
-Paria, and then in the islands of the Pacific, opened up an unexpected
-source of wealth; but it was not until Montezuma offered his munificent
-gifts to Cortes, to induce the latter to quit the shores of Mexico, that
-the first great reservoir of the precious metals was tapped. Still, it
-must be remembered that the great stores of gold discovered, first in
-Mexico, and subsequently in Peru, did not in themselves imply that these
-countries were capable of continuing to produce unlimited quantities.
-They were the accumulations of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span> many years, possibly of many centuries;
-for, as there was no foreign trade, everything produced which could not
-be consumed had necessarily to be preserved or destroyed.</p>
-
-<p>“It may be wondered what value gold possessed in the ideas of these
-people. That it was held in nothing like the same esteem as by Europeans
-is certain; but in Peru, at any rate, its production and preservation
-were assured, from the fact that it was regarded as tears wept by the
-sun, which was the god of the people, whose Incas, or rulers, were
-called the Children of the Sun. In neither case, then, is it surprising
-that the treasure was not clung to with more tenacity. Both Montezuma
-and Atahualpa set a higher value upon many other things; and the
-quantities seized by Cortes and Pizarro and their respective followers,
-vast though it appeared in their eyes, and as it really was in those
-days, was parted with, with scarcely a pang of regret. That secured by
-Pizarro was by far the greater spoil, and was supposed to be the price
-of the freedom of the Inca himself, who offered to fill a room 85 feet
-by 17, and as high as a man could reach, with gold plate in exchange for
-it. He did not quite succeed, because Pizarro treacherously put him to
-death before the task was completed, yet the amount realized for
-distribution was equivalent to something like three and a half millions
-sterling ($17,500,000) of the money of to-day, and enriched the
-commonest foot-soldier beyond the dreams of avarice.</p>
-
-<p>“It was silver, not gold, moreover, which eventually made both countries
-at once the wonder and the envy of the civilized world. The richest
-mines were unknown to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span> the Indians, having only been discovered after
-the Spanish conquest. Those of Zacotecas in Mexico were first worked in
-1532, while the more famous Potosi lode in Peru was laid bare in 1545,
-by a native scrambling up the side of a mountain in pursuit of some
-llamas which had strayed from his flock, and uprooting the shrubs to
-which he clung for support.</p>
-
-<p>“In the West Indies, meanwhile, the larger islands, like Porto Rico,
-Cuba and Jamaica, were gradually colonized, but the smaller ones were
-left alone; it can well be understood that in the absence of any proved
-deposits of gold they were scarcely worth attention, and it was
-sufficient to keep a watch over them to defend them from the incursions
-of other nations. With the conquest of Mexico, however, the center of
-gravity was moved further west, and still more so when followed by that
-of Peru, because the only known route from the latter was by Panama and
-across the isthmus.</p>
-
-<p>“These territories were altogether too great for efficient oversight;
-that of Mexico stretching from California in the north to Venezuela in
-the south, and including not only the West Indies, but the far removed
-Philippines, while that of Lima embraced the whole of South America both
-east and west of the Andes. The great territories included in the
-present Republics of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay were looked upon as
-of little value, as they contained neither gold nor silver; and as every
-attempt made to settle them only seemed to end in failure, little
-attention was given to their affairs. They became, indeed, a distinct
-source of loss to Spain, as they were found useful for purposes of
-contraband trade; and eventually the gold and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span> silver, which could not
-be safely smuggled through the ordinary ports of shipment, were conveyed
-across the Andes and down the rivers to places of embarkation on the
-Amazon or Rio do la Plata, where foreign ships awaited the spoil and
-were ready to barter the coveted produce and manufactures of Europe in
-exchange. When these two viceroyalties were eventually subdivided, it
-was not into east and west, but north and south, and New Granada became
-the center of one; while the territories now included in the United
-States were separated from Mexico, and constituted the other.</p>
-
-<p>“In Spain everybody, from the king in his palace to the peasant in his
-hut, regarded the colonies simply as a source of revenue and profit to
-himself, and when they ceased to be this, they would be useless. The
-most stringent regulations were adopted, therefore, against trading or
-even communicating among themselves, or of engaging in any industry,
-manufacturing or agricultural, which was not indigenous to the country;
-indeed, Spain insisted upon supplying everything it could grow or make
-which would stand the sea voyage, at its own price. The cultivation of
-neither the olive nor the vine was permitted in the New World, and
-severe penalties were inflicted upon any one who had the temerity to
-disobey. Peru and Chili, however, were specially exempted, owing to
-their immense distance, and the damaged condition in which liquids
-generally arrived there, but they were not allowed to export the produce
-to any neighboring country, and must consume it themselves. The duties
-of the colonists were, in fact, strictly limited to obtaining as much
-gold and silver as they could, while the Spaniards at home were to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span>
-care that they retained as little of it as possible. For all that, many
-fortunes were realized, principally by bullion being smuggled out of the
-country; and had there not been some such inducement, few men would have
-cared to expatriate themselves, and live amid such uncomfortable
-surroundings.</p>
-
-<p>“Precisely similar principles were observed in all matters relating to
-government. Every office of profit under the crown, almost every
-emolument, however trivial, was reserved for persons of pure Spanish
-birth. As a consequence, the official class was migratory, and remained
-in the colonies no longer than was necessary to accumulate a fortune or
-a competence, according to the taste of each individual member of it.
-Though there were honest and honorable men to be found among them,
-notably those filling the most exalted positions, that did not prevent
-the vast majority from preying on the colonists, many of whom, by virtue
-of the grants of territory they had received, attained to great
-influence and wealth. Their descendants were, nevertheless, debarred
-from all participation in either the legislative or executive functions
-of government, though they might have nothing but the purest Spanish
-blood flowing in their veins. Nor could they become dignitaries of the
-Church without much difficulty. In the days when the Holy See found it
-politic to be on good terms with the Spanish sovereign, the whole
-ecclesiastical patronage of the New World was vested in him and his
-successors; and though many Popes endeavored to get this privilege back
-into their own hands, they always failed, and were compelled to confirm
-the nominations of the secular ruler. Both Mexico and Peru were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span> rapidly
-overrun with clergy, secular as well as regular, and monastic
-establishments sprang up everywhere like mushrooms, yet preferment was
-always reserved for their brethren in Spain; and out of nearly four
-hundred bishops and archbishops consecrated up to the middle of the
-seventeenth century, scarce a dozen were taken from the Spanish-American
-community known as Creoles.</p>
-
-<p>“A system so rigid is bound to break. Federation is all very well and
-may accomplish much that is beneficial to all concerned. But its first
-condition is elasticity, so that every section within its embrace may
-enjoy full freedom of expansion. There must be no jealousies, no
-recriminations, and, above everything, no attempts to get all and give
-nothing. These conditions are possible under an arrangement entered into
-freely by all parties; they are unattainable when imposed by the strong
-upon the weak. That is why Spain never won the gratitude of its
-colonies, why each and every one eagerly seized the opportunity of
-throwing off the yoke, and fought desperately for independence, and why,
-to-day, her colonial power is ended.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE SUPREMACY OF SPAIN&mdash;ENCROACHMENTS OF OTHER NATIONS&mdash;CAUSES WHICH LED
-TO COLONIAL REVOLT&mdash;BIRTH OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS&mdash;INSURRECTIONS
-IN CUBA&mdash;ROBAMOS TODOS</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> population of Hayti at the advent of Columbus was estimated to have
-been a million, yet, before many years had elapsed, the colonists were
-forcibly depopulating the smaller islands to provide a supply of labor
-sufficient for their limited requirements. It was the people of the
-mainland who might have been expected and who actually did offer the
-stoutest resistance. No more wonderful campaign is recorded in military
-history than that conducted by Cortes against the Mexicans, and it may
-be doubted whether there was another man living who could have carried
-it to a successful issue.</p>
-
-<p>Conspicuous as a general, he was unmatched as a diplomatist, whether in
-dealing with his own soldiers, his allies, or his enemies. Who else in
-that age would have dreamed, after defeating the Tlascalans against
-fearful odds, of enlisting them against their deadly foes the Aztecs,
-and so humoring them that they never swerved in their loyalty? Or who
-could have traded on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> the superstition, of Montezuma, so as to gain
-complete control over his mind, and extract his treasures, valued at
-something like seven and a half million dollars, without a blow? But
-Montezuma once removed, the people, who had long been accustomed to
-render him an unquestioned obedience, and to submit themselves to his
-slightest command, were free to follow leaders who evinced more spirit;
-and the death of that monarch was speedily followed by the <i>noche
-triste</i> with all its attendant horrors. To be captured alive, as many of
-the Spanish soldiers were, meant the most terrible of all ends, for they
-were hurried away to the temples, and their palpitating hearts torn from
-their living bodies, to be offered as a propitiation to the national
-deities. Yet even this did not disconcert Cortes and his brave
-adherents, who began immediately to concert another plan of campaign.
-The difficulties they had first encountered were as nothing compared to
-those they had still to face, for they had to deal with a victorious and
-determined foe, instead of a beaten and depressed one. Every obstacle,
-however, was overcome; and with the energetic assistance of allies, who
-little dreamed they were sealing their own doom and forever sacrificing
-their independence, the powerful and rich kingdom of Mexico was finally
-brought into complete subjection to the Castilian crown.</p>
-
-<p>Of totally different and vastly inferior fiber was the conqueror of
-Peru. Pizarro was without either education or address&mdash;a rough,
-ambitious, and avaricious soldier. He, too, was favored by internal
-dissensions, of which he could not possibly have known anything when he
-set forth on his errand. After a long period of peaceful and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span> undisputed
-sway, the Inca dynasty was split by a feud between two brothers, one of
-whom, Atahualpa, had just asserted his superiority by force of arms,
-when the European conquerors appeared on the scene. A word from him, and
-not a man of them would have escaped alive. But at the critical moment
-an unaccountable paralysis overtook him, whether or not arising from a
-curiosity to see and interview the strangers it is impossible to say. He
-realized his danger too late, for Pizarro, imitating Cortes, seized the
-person of the Inca, and the rest was rendered comparatively easy.
-Accustomed, like Montezuma, to exact unqualified obedience, he employed
-his subjects in collecting his ransom instead of fighting for his
-deliverance; and when the debt was almost paid, he found himself doomed
-to death instead of released from captivity. The forces of the empire
-were then scattered, and without a leader who could assume full
-authority. Still, many a desperate bid was subsequently made for
-freedom, but each time with less prospect of success, as the conquerors
-secured a firmer grip upon the country, until the execution of Tapac
-Amara, the last direct descendant of the Incas, in 1571, left that
-solitude which Cæsar called peace.</p>
-
-<p>But after all it was not the opposition of the Indians, whether of the
-islands, of Mexico, or Peru, that proved the greatest danger to Spanish
-sovereignty. Enmity to Columbus, who was the accredited representative
-of the crown and legal governor of the Indies, did not necessarily infer
-enmity to the crown itself; indeed, those who rebelled against him were
-loud in their protestations of loyalty. Nevertheless, the turbulent
-factions fought for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span> their own hand, and would have been equally opposed
-to any other governor who sought to place the necessary restraint upon
-their license. By permitting, and even compelling, many of the
-discontented to return home, as well as by the temporary removal of
-Columbus himself, something like quiet was restored; but it is more than
-probable that had not the colonists been largely dependent upon Spain
-for many necessaries, not excluding food, they would have cut themselves
-adrift and refused to submit to the exactions upon their industry, or
-rather upon that of the natives from which they profited. More than once
-in the early days, the home government had to stop cautiously, and
-commissions were dispatched to ascertain where the grievances lay, and
-if possible redress them. They were mostly connected with labor; the
-majority of the clergy, to their credit be it said, ranging themselves
-on the side of humanity, and using all their influence to obtain
-ordinances favorable to the natives. This difficulty was smoothed away
-to a great extent by the introduction of the African negro, which began
-as early as the year 1503.</p>
-
-<p>The followers of Cortes were remarkably loyal to him in prosperity and
-adversity alike; and though for a long time he was unaware how his
-proceedings would be received at court, he remained consistent in his
-devotion to his sovereign. His dispatches breathe an almost effusive
-submission to their will and interests, and only his enemies ever laid
-any charges against him, while his own actions too obviously refuted
-them. It was only when some of his officers were removed from his
-influence and intrusted with commissions of their own that they thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span>
-of kicking over the traces, and then it invariably happened that they
-were not in situations where any great harm could result. Mexico once
-subdued, long rendered the most willing obedience of any of the
-colonies, partly perhaps because under the direct influence of good and
-great viceroys, who acted both with intelligence and discretion.</p>
-
-<p>It was far otherwise in Peru, where the duplicity of Pizarro in
-excluding Almagro from his proper share in the governorship roused the
-suspicion, then the ire, and finally the opposition of that honest and
-gallant soldier. When Pizarro returned from his visit to Spain, he was
-either accompanied or immediately followed by several of his brothers,
-who, among them, formed a family compact for the protection and
-promotion of their own interests. To rid themselves of the rivalry of
-Almagro, they obtained for him the governorship of the country which now
-comprises the Republic of Chili. This, however, had still to be
-conquered, and the obstacles which presented themselves to the
-enterprise appeared so insurmountable that Almagro and his followers
-abandoned it and returned to Cuzco, the rich capital of Peru, which, the
-former maintained, fell within the latitude of the patent granted to
-him. This assertion was naturally contested by the Pizarros, and in the
-civil war that followed both Francisco Pizarro, the eldest and foremost
-of the brothers, and Almagro met with violent deaths. The Indians looked
-on with amazement at this strife between the white men, but failed to
-profit by it. Had they shown anything like the energy displayed in the
-warfare among themselves, or that of their Mexican brothers, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span> must
-inevitably have recaptured their kingdom, which it would have been
-extremely difficult to reconquer; but having allowed the golden
-opportunity to slip, it never again offered.</p>
-
-<p>But the most serious menace to the supremacy of Spain in the New World
-occurred shortly after the promulgation of the edicts of Charles V. in
-1542. The clauses guaranteeing the Indians their freedom, and protecting
-them against undue imposition, either of taxation or forced labor, were
-so obnoxious to the colonists that something like a general rising was
-threatened. The tact of the Mexican viceroy pacified those under his
-rule, but Peru experienced the full force of an armed rebellion with all
-its evil consequences. The leader in this instance was Gonzales Pizarro,
-who had inherited the immense estates conferred upon the family by a
-grateful sovereign, and who now undoubtedly aimed at establishing a
-separate kingdom with himself its supreme head. Fortunately, the right
-man was again sent from Spain to deal effectively with this uprising,
-and though a cleric, Vaca de Castro exhibited the skill of a general and
-the diplomacy of a statesman. With the execution of Gonzales, the last
-of the Pizarro brothers, peace was restored; and by the middle of the
-sixteenth century the various governments were so effectively
-consolidated that not for upward of a hundred and fifty years did any
-revolt, Indian or Creole, meet with more than temporary success.</p>
-
-<p>It was far otherwise with the Philippines, which have never been free
-for any length of time from disturbances of some kind. No effort indeed
-has ever been made to thoroughly subdue the turbulent natives; and there
-is no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span> similar extent of territory under the control of a European
-government, about which so little is known regarding its natural
-resources and mineral wealth as the important islands of Luzon and
-Mindanao, which embrace half the total area of the archipelago. The
-principal ports have been strongly fortified, and reliance placed upon
-them to retain possession. The immunities enjoyed by the natives would,
-under ordinary circumstances, offer little inducement to revolt, but
-unfortunately the Philippines have from the very first been particularly
-subject to ecclesiastical influence and jurisdiction, and in its
-missionary and persecuting zeal the priesthood has made itself
-thoroughly obnoxious. The religious orders were the special object of
-animosity in the latest rising, and unless they are either suppressed or
-placed under more effective political control, there will be little
-prospect of peace in the islands.</p>
-
-<p>In an epoch when most of the nations of Europe are struggling to add to
-their territories in the remotest corners of the earth, it seems almost
-incredible that four centuries ago a single one of them should have been
-permitted to annex a whole continent unchallenged. It was not so much
-the Pope’s Bull that frightened competitors away as the fact that they
-were too deeply absorbed in their own affairs. The importunity of
-Columbus had to wear itself nearly out before the fortunate completion
-of the Moorish conquest won it a more ready ear; and most other
-countries were about the same time either engaged in, or just recovering
-from, some similar internecine strife. Moreover, it was the energy of
-private adventurers rather than of the Spanish crown which won for the
-latter a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span> vast empire beyond the seas; nor was it until its value became
-plainly apparent that it was thought worth while to go to any great
-amount of trouble or expense in its development.</p>
-
-<p>Similarly, the first external enemies the Spanish colonies had to
-encounter were private and unattached adventurers. Piracy was an
-institution which had already flourished for many centuries. The Barbary
-corsairs were far more feared by the merchants of Venice and Genoa than
-the fiercest storms that ever visited the Mediterranean; and they had
-their counterpart in the Baltic, where the Hanseatic League carried on
-so extensive a commerce. It was only to be expected that they would
-sally forth from their inland seas when so much more valuable spoil was
-to be secured on the open ocean beyond, but strange to say, with the
-rapid decline of the trade which they had so long harried, their
-activity slackened, and their principles and profession were largely
-inherited by more civilized races. Some excuse was offered for this by
-the almost constant warfare that prevailed during the reign of Charles
-V., when France and Spain were at perpetual enmity, and England was
-found, first on one side, then on the other. The first important loss
-that befell Spain was the capture of the vessel conveying home the royal
-share of the treasures of Mexico by a French privateer, or pirate, as
-the Spaniards always preferred to call the ships which despoiled their
-fleets, a designation that was more often than not amply justified.</p>
-
-<p>To begin with, these pirate ships were content to hang about the Azores,
-on the chance of meeting a caravel laden with treasure homeward bound.
-They gradually ventured<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> further west, until they actually arrived among
-the West Indian Islands, where they were surprised to find that
-altogether undreamed-of facilities awaited them for the pursuit of their
-nefarious trade. Though the entire archipelago belonged nominally to
-Spain, only the larger islands were actually occupied, the smaller not
-being regarded as worthy of attention, until the Indian population of
-Hispaniola, Cuba and Porto Rico began to fail, and then they were raided
-for their inhabitants to supply the vacant places. With a scanty Spanish
-population, it would have been utterly impossible to fortify and inhabit
-all, even had colonists been found so self-denying as to banish
-themselves to places where the only chance of accumulating wealth was by
-hard work and steady application to agricultural pursuits.</p>
-
-<p>For a long time these scattered islands were merely places of call,
-where fresh water and fruit could be obtained. No attempt was made at
-annexation in the name of any foreign power, and it would have been
-folly for any ship’s company, even had they been disposed to relinquish
-their buccaneering career, to settle down and defy the Spanish power,
-whose forces would quickly have been put in motion to expel them.</p>
-
-<p>Two events, designed by Philip II. to aggrandize the power of Spain at
-the expense of its neighbors, were eventually the means of arousing
-enmity against it to such an extent that the opposition of private
-adventurers was suddenly backed up by the full weight of the most
-rapidly progressing peoples and governments in the Old World.</p>
-
-<p>Many previous efforts had been made to unite the crowns of Spain and
-Portugal, but hitherto all had failed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span> The heroic death of Sebastian,
-however, in 1580, left the throne of Portugal without a direct heir, and
-among the numerous claimants was Philip, who overreached all his
-competitors. He was probably even then meditating that descent upon the
-liberties of England which resulted, eight years later, in the dispatch
-of the renowned Armada, and the writing of one of the most brilliant
-pages of English history. Success in the one instance, no less than
-failure in the other, created the most deadly foes that Spain ever had
-to encounter, until the persistent antagonism of Holland and England
-reduced it at last to a miserable shadow of its former self.</p>
-
-<p>Philip’s ruling passion was an intense bigotry, and from the moment he
-assumed sway in Spain and the Low Countries, he sought to exterminate
-every trace of the Reformed faith. That brought him into conflict with
-the Dutch, whose principal port and city of Amsterdam was fast
-concentrating within itself the trade that Bruges and Antwerp had once
-commanded as the principal marts of the Hanseatic League. As Portugal
-extended its conquests in the East, Lisbon displaced Venice and Genoa,
-and became the great emporium of all Eastern produce, whence Amsterdam
-drew its supplies for distribution throughout northern Europe. With the
-object, therefore, of destroying Dutch trade, Philip closed the port of
-Lisbon to it in 1594, fondly imagining that that would ruin his
-rebellious subjects, and enforce submission to his will.</p>
-
-<p>He had entirely mistaken Dutch character, however; for in the following
-year the services were enlisted of Cornelius Hautmann, who had been a
-pilot in the Portuguese service; and he conducted the first Dutch
-expedition<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span> round the Cape of Good Hope on its way to open up a direct
-trade with the Spice Islands and India, which of course had become the
-property of Spain along with its own Philippines. Thus modestly was laid
-the foundation of the Dutch Empire in the East Indies, and when Portugal
-regained its freedom in 1640, under the House of Braganza, it found
-itself stripped of most of its former colonies, which were never to be
-restored.</p>
-
-<p>Not content merely with retaining their former trade, the Dutch sought
-to extend it in other directions; and the incorporation of their East
-India Company in 1602 was followed by that of the West India Company in
-1621, the operations of which were to embrace the west coast of Africa
-as well as the whole of Spanish America, in which the Brazils had then
-to be included. They had been preceded many years earlier by the
-English, who commenced operations in good earnest some time before the
-date of the Armada; indeed, those two great figures in English naval
-history, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, had then already
-performed their greatest exploits. As early as 1572, the latter gave a
-good account of himself on the Spanish Main, but his most daring feat
-was accomplished in 1578, when he sailed through the Straits of Magellan
-and appeared off the coast of Peru. Francisco Draques was the terror of
-Spanish America, and his was the name used to frighten Spanish-American
-children when they were naughty.</p>
-
-<p>A new danger thus became apparent, as the Spaniards had never dreamed
-before of reaching their West Coast possessions by the southern route.
-Lest other foreign adventurers should follow in the wake, an expedition
-under<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span> Pedro Sarmiento was dispatched from Chili to explore the Straits
-and the adjoining territory, with the view, if practicable, of founding
-a strong colony and erecting substantial fortifications. Sarmiento’s
-zeal outran his discretion, and after accomplishing his task he sailed
-for Spain, where he gave an exaggerated account, not only of the danger
-of leaving the Straits unprotected, but of the ease with which they
-could be rendered impregnable to all unfriendly visitors. A colony
-consisting of about four hundred souls was actually sent out in 1528,
-though from the very first it met with nothing but dire misfortune.</p>
-
-<p>The captain-general commissioned to take charge of the undertaking,
-Diego Flores, disliked the job, and began by chartering the worst ships
-he could find. His lieutenant, Sarmiento, was more discreet in the
-choice of the embryo colonists, most of whom were skilled mechanics; but
-the fleet had scarcely left San Lucar on the outward voyage, when half
-of them were shipwrecked and drowned. Though replaced, disaster
-continued to follow upon disaster, the voyage being very much a
-repetition of the previous one made by Magellan, only in this instance
-the commander was himself the leading obstructionist. Eventually, rather
-more than two hundred souls sailed from the Bio de la Plata, and
-forty-five of these were drowned ere the Straits were reached. All but
-eight of the survivors subsequently perished, and the last of them was
-taken off in 1589 by the “Delight,” commanded by Sir John Cavendish, who
-appropriately named the spot where he found him “Port Famine.”</p>
-
-<p>The advent of the English and Dutch, followed half a century later by
-the French, led to the settlement of some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span> of the unoccupied islands.
-They rapidly became something more than mere provisioning depots, though
-several of them, and notably the island of Tortuga, were nothing else
-than the lairs of desperate crews of pirates, as reckless of their own
-lives as of those who were unfortunate fall into their clutches. But
-Barbadoes and St. Christopher, St. Eustatius and Curaçoa, Martinique and
-Guadalupe, became the center of something more legitimate, if quite as
-illegal, as sinking galleons and purloining their treasure, though that
-business was never missed either when the opportunity presented itself;
-and the Dutch West India Company alone is said to have been responsible
-for the capture of between five and six hundred Spanish vessels.</p>
-
-<p>The English secured their first foothold in the neighborhood by
-occupying the Bermudas in 1621, though this hardly brought them into
-direct contact with the West Indies. This was speedily followed by
-settlements in some of the unoccupied islands further south. Barbadoes
-was taken possession of in 1625, and the same year St. Christopher, or
-St. Kitts, as it is now called, was divided between the English and
-French. The former continued to add to their territory, taking Nevis in
-1628, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632; and all these islands are so
-essentially English, as to prove conclusively that, although once
-nominally owned by Spain, Spanish influence was never exerted in them.</p>
-
-<p>From 1650 until the period of his death, Oliver Cromwell, having
-established his authority at home, pursued an active foreign policy, and
-it was only natural that he should find himself in conflict with Spain,
-whose maxims<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span> of government, both civil and religious, were so utterly
-at variance with his. Thus, in 1654, a somewhat formidable fleet, under
-the command of the admirals Penn and Venables, sailed for Barbadoes,
-where they would be ready for any emergency. Early the following year
-they made a descent upon Hispaniola, selecting the capital, San Domingo,
-as the object of attack. On the approach of the ships, the inhabitants,
-white and black alike, fled inland, but the affair was sadly mismanaged
-and somehow miscarried. Not wishing the expedition to prove a complete
-failure, the admirals set sail for the adjoining island of Jamaica,
-which did not then contain, at the outside, more than fifteen hundred
-whites, and perhaps as many blacks. This time, no difficulty was
-experienced, and the island was taken formal possession of, this being
-the first loss of occupied territory inflicted upon Spain, as well as
-the most important acquisition ever made in the West Indies by England.
-In 1658 the Spaniards attempted to drive the intruders out but failed,
-and in 1670 a treaty was entered into between the two countries, in
-which Spain recognized the rights of England both in Jamaica and the
-smaller islands of which possession had been previously taken.</p>
-
-<p>About this time, also, the French West India Company was incorporated,
-the brilliant finance minister of Louis XIV., Colbert, not liking to be
-without a hand in the game. He began in a more legitimate fashion than
-his competitors, and in 1664 purchased the rights of the settlers in
-Martinique, Guadalupe, St Lucia, Grenada, and a few other islands for
-about a million livres. Spanish tyranny, however, afforded an excuse for
-more high-handed proceedings, and the company secured a footing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span> on the
-western side of Hispaniola, Spanish interests being concentrated almost
-entirely on the eastern. The settlements so established became little
-more than a rallying-point and shelter for buccaneers, who, in
-consequence of their roving habits, were difficult to eject, until
-eventually this intermittent occupation of a portion of the island
-induced France to lay claim to the whole, but the cession was only
-formally recognized by Spain more than a century later. Thus the four
-predominant powers of Europe all had a stake in the Western Hemisphere.</p>
-
-<p>Nearly a hundred and fifty years elapsed without witnessing any further
-important changes. The very vastness of the Spanish-American empire was
-its principal protection. Europe was growing thoroughly accustomed to
-immense armies, but they could only be moved on land, and there was no
-means for transporting them across the sea. What chance was there then
-of conquering a territory which extended uninterruptedly from California
-to Chili, and from Florida to the Rio de la Plata, even had there been
-much inclination? The idea, it is true, occurred more than once, and
-especially in 1702, when&mdash;the death of Charles II. of Spain having
-brought to an end the Hapsburg dynasty, and the Wars of the Spanish
-Succession being entered upon&mdash;an alliance was formed between England,
-Holland and the German Empire for the conquest of the Spanish colonies,
-but like others it came to nothing. Again, in 1739, Spain, alarmed at
-the growing contraband trade, insisted very justifiably on searching
-English ships in American waters, but this was resented and led to war,
-in which Porto Bello was captured; and that had something to do with the
-permission granted a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span> few years later to trade by the longer, but safer
-and more convenient route round Cape Horn.</p>
-
-<p>Once more, in 1762, what was known as the Family Compact involved the
-rest of Europe in hostilities against the Bourbon dynasties in France,
-Spain, and Italy, and the war was carried both to the East and West
-Indies. Havana and Manila were captured by the English, and might have
-become English possessions, had not the Treaty of Paris, concluded in
-1763, brought the campaign to an end, and made it a condition that all
-colonial conquests were to be restored to their original owners. Minor
-changes were frequent and numerous, but they were generally a mere
-shuffling of the cards between England, Holland, and France, leaving the
-Spanish possessions much as they were.</p>
-
-<p>The eighteenth century, as it drew to its close, found the Spanish
-occupation of America almost as it had been in the first half of the
-seventeenth. Then a mighty upheaval was witnessed both in North America
-and Europe, and the War of Independence in the United States, together
-with the French Revolution, provide the sequel for what followed in
-South America. Scarcely a murmur was heard in the principal Spanish
-colonies while these great events were changing the destinies of the
-civilized world, and an onlooker who had time to think must have been
-astonished at their apparent loyalty to the mother country, oppressed
-though they had been, and still were, while everywhere else the blow for
-freedom was being struck. Perhaps another conclusion might have been
-arrived at; namely, that the ancient Spanish stock had so degenerated,
-and had become such a mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span>-spirited race, that it dare not act like its
-neighbors further north; but subsequent events disproved this
-hypothesis. The Girondists and the Mountain rose and fell; Napoleon
-became successively director, dictator, emperor&mdash;still no sign of
-movement. Then the moment arrived for the arch-disturber of Europe to
-overthrow the ancient monarchy of Spain, and to establish a brand-new
-one with his brother Joseph at its head. That was the supreme crisis to
-make a move, or forever to remain still. Spain almost to a man resented
-the affront. Spanish America joined the mother country, and refused to
-recognize the upstart dynasty.</p>
-
-<p>Still, in the midst of this death-like calm, some presages of the coming
-storm were discernible. In the first place, France, by the Treaty of
-Basle in 1795, secured the cession of the whole of Hispaniola, only,
-however, in a few years to lose it again by its declaration of
-independence, and the formation of a black republic. In the naval
-conflicts so frequent during that disturbed period England both lost and
-gained. The Dutch and Spanish were both unwilling confederates of
-Napoleon, but their connection with him, nevertheless, exposed their
-foreign possessions to the attack of his declared enemies; and England
-captured Demerara and Essequibo in Guiana from the former, and the
-island of Trinidad from the latter. All these were trivial acquisitions,
-compared with the vast extent of Mexico and Central America, Peru, and
-New Granada, and the eastern province of Buenos Ayres. Brazil had
-reverted to Portugal with the firm establishment of the Braganza
-dynasty, and was nearly all there was left of its once great colonial
-empire. In March, 1808, the ill<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span> fortune of the royal family drove them
-from their own kingdom to find refuge beyond the seas, and Brazil became
-an independent empire under the fugitive Portuguese sovereign, whose
-descendants remained in peaceable and prosperous possession until the
-revolution which dethroned the late ill-fated Dom Pedro.</p>
-
-<p>These changes were due entirely to foreign intervention and not to
-domestic unrest. The first sign of this was when Francisco Miranda, a
-Spanish-American who had fought under Washington, conceived the idea of
-freeing his fellow-countrymen, and took steps toward that end by
-founding a “Gran Reunion Americana” in London in 1806. But so
-unresponsive were the inhabitants of the Spanish Main that the first
-active movement of the league resulted in dead failure. It attracted the
-sympathy and support, however, of two active and capable men, Bolivar
-and San Martin, who were destined to do so much for the emancipation of
-South America from European bondage, and whose advent brought a rapid
-change in the feeling of indifference with which the movement was
-regarded.</p>
-
-<p>Still, the loyalty of the colonists might have been proof against their
-blandishments had the government of Ferdinand VII., established at Cadiz
-in opposition to that of Joseph Bonaparte, shown itself in any way
-conciliatory toward them. Loyal though the Spaniards at home were to the
-Bourbon dynasty, they were only willing to rally round it on condition
-of the carrying out of many important reforms in consonance with the
-spirit of the age; and the colonists likewise demanded that, as the
-price of their adhesion, they should be put upon an equality with Spain,
-and be accorded perfect liberty in their agricultural and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span> manufacturing
-industries; that trade should be thrown open between all the countries
-on the American Continent and with the Philippines; and that all
-restrictions and monopolies should be abolished, and fixed duties
-substituted in their place. Reasonable though these demands now appear,
-they were indignantly rejected, and with one consent nearly every
-country in Spanish America was ablaze with revolution.</p>
-
-<p>One of the earliest outbreaks was in Mexico, the near proximity of the
-United States having perhaps inspired in that country a more intense
-longing for freedom than elsewhere. A small band of patriots had for
-some time been watching an opportunity for asserting themselves, and
-with Hidalgo and Allende at their head, took the extreme step of issuing
-a declaration of independence on the 16th of September, 1810. Spanish
-influence was still strong; and in less than a year the outbreak was
-suppressed, and the leaders executed. Others rose to take their places,
-and just three years after the declaration of independence, the first
-Mexican Congress was summoned to meet at the town of Chilpantzongo,
-which was in the hands of the insurgents. Morelos, the principal actor
-at this stage of the drama, was captured and shot in December, 1815; but
-that only imposed a temporary check on the movement. In the delusive
-hope of regaining full control, Ferdinand, then firmly re-established on
-his throne, offered concessions in 1820, but it was too late, and they
-failed to effect a pacification. Independence was once more declared in
-1821, but this time at the instigation of a dictator who aimed at
-founding an empire for himself, and who did for a short period sway the
-destinies of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span> country as the Emperor Iturbide I. His reign was
-brief, and a republic was definitely established on the 16th of
-December, 1823, the subsequent career of which has been so checkered
-until quite recent times. Having been recognized by the principal courts
-of Europe, Spain itself accredited an embassador in 1839, and made no
-further efforts to reassert its former title.</p>
-
-<p>Elsewhere the struggle was less prolonged, though, while it lasted,
-quite as exciting. At the instigation of Bolivar, Venezuela proclaimed
-its independence in July, 1811, and several years later united with New
-Granada as the Republic of Colombia. Buenos Ayres established a junta in
-1810, a Constituent Assembly was called in January, 1813, and entire
-independence of Spain was declared, July, 1816. The insurrection in
-Chili likewise began in 1810, when a National Congress was summoned to
-meet at Santiago; but the Spanish interest was strong on the west coast,
-and it was not until San Martin crossed the Andes from La Plata in 1817
-that independence was made good. Material assistance was afforded by the
-famous Admiral Cochrane (Lord Dundonald), who, driven in disgrace from
-his native country, placed his services at the disposal of the revolting
-Chilians, and gave them that naval pre-eminence in South America which
-they have ever since retained.</p>
-
-<p>Peru proved an even tougher job, but the combined forces of San Martin
-and Cochrane proved irresistible, and both Lima and Callao were taken in
-1821. Lima, however, was recaptured by the Spaniards in 1823, but
-Bolivar, marching against it from Colombia, was appointed dictator, and
-gained so decisive a victory in 1824 that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span> Spanish army was forced
-to capitulate, and by 1826 the connection with the mother country was
-completely and finally severed. Spain had vainly striven against these
-successive misfortunes, and in 1815 sent out a considerable force under
-Marshal Morillo, who gained a few temporary successes; but his cruelties
-and atrocious conduct only exasperated the colonists, and instigated
-them to greater exertions. The various countries of Central America were
-quietly federated into the Republic of Guatemala in 1823, in the absence
-of any Spanish troops to oppose; and thus, from the northern borders of
-Mexico to the southern confines of Chili and La Plata, the conquerors of
-the New World were forever ejected. England was the first to recognize
-the South American republics, and entered into commercial treaties with
-several of them in 1825, after which date Spain can no longer be said to
-have been able to claim ownership of a single acre on the American
-Continent.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile of a once vast colonial empire but Cuba and Porto Rico
-remained. What were the forces at work which there prevented secession?</p>
-
-<p>The political economist Mr. R. J. Root, to whom and to whose work on
-this subject we are already much indebted, states that the conditions
-were different. The predominant feature of the islands was negro
-slavery, whereas the wealth of the Spanish-American colonist lay in
-lands which, if subject to alienation, were at least impossible of
-removal. The Cuban planter reckoned as his most precious possession the
-flesh and blood attached to his estates, and the very words “freedom”
-and “independence” stank in his nostrils. Whatever inconvenience,
-therefore, he suf<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span>fered from his political connection with an effete
-monarchy and a decaying or decayed empire, he at least felt that, while
-he clung to it, it would afford him protection for his property.</p>
-
-<p>A steady flood of immigration from the mother country maintained this
-connection down to the recent war. The wealthiest merchants and planters
-have invariably been of pure Spanish blood, and their contempt for the
-Cuban Creoles, though many of them are as pure-blooded as themselves,
-and have no taint whatever of the “tar-brush,” has helped to maintain
-them as a separate class, regarded as intruders by all of Cuban birth,
-and hated accordingly. They have of necessity invoked Spanish aid and
-relied on Spanish authority, and have, for nearly a hundred years,
-provided the basis for Spanish rule in the island. Many of them made
-their fortunes and returned home, leaving room for others to follow.
-Some made Cuba their permanent domicile, but invariably with fatal
-effects upon their offspring, for Cuban birth is almost synonymous with
-Cuban sympathies, and, in any rising, the father, who has been on the
-side of the crown, has witnessed his sons throwing in their lot with the
-rebels.</p>
-
-<p>Ever since the emancipation of the Spanish Main, Cuba has been in a
-state of political unrest. Various secret societies have been
-constituted, and have received advice and assistance from Mexicans,
-Chilians, and others who had already succeeded in throwing off their own
-fetters. In 1823 the Society of Soles struck a blow for liberty; six
-years later it was the Company of the Black Eagle which attempted
-success where its predecessor had failed. Both were essentially Creole
-risings, and although those who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span> participated in them freely gave
-expression to their abhorrence of slavery, no assistance was either
-asked or received from the negroes. For these unfortunates, however,
-failure meant the tightening of their bonds; and it is not surprising to
-find that, in 1844, goaded to despair by their sufferings, they tried an
-insurrection on their own account, though of course it ended
-disastrously.</p>
-
-<p>These outbreaks were all more or less localized, and it was not until
-1868 that a revolution broke out, destined to involve the entire island,
-and to occupy long and weary years in suppressing, if, indeed, the
-smoking embers can be said ever to have been quenched. It was
-undoubtedly instigated by the American Civil War, which had ended in the
-uncompromising abolition of slavery, and so raised the hopes of the
-friends of liberty in Cuba. Though the planters and slave-owners ranged
-themselves, as was natural, on the side of law and order, their
-enthusiasm was no longer of the keenest. They realized that the
-institution to which they clung so tenaciously was doomed, and it became
-a question with them of doing the best they could for themselves.
-Emancipation in the British West Indies had for a time added enormously
-to their prosperity, until the value of slaves underwent so great an
-appreciation that it no longer became profitable to purchase them, and
-only actual owners derived any benefit. For, it must be remembered,
-there was a distinct difference between the slave-trade and slavery, and
-long after public opinion revolted against, and prohibited the
-kidnapping and traffic in human flesh, it continued to tolerate its
-ownership, and recognized natural increase as legitimate property. That
-African negroes were smuggled into Cuba<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span> is tolerably certain;
-nevertheless, the numbers were too small to prevent the gradual increase
-in value of an able-bodied male slave from $250 to something like $1,750
-or $2,000. This was the surest means of eventual abolition; for while
-this high price set upon the black made him valuable property, and
-insured his better treatment, it tended to make the luxury too costly,
-and one that could eventually no longer be indulged in, as the point
-must be reached where free labor would become cheaper.</p>
-
-<p>About the time of the rebellion, the number of slaves in Cuba was
-between 350,000 and 400,000, and their value on paper was simply
-enormous. The $100,000,000 voted by the British Parliament as
-compensation to the disinherited slave-owners in the British West Indies
-would have been but a drop in the ocean in any scheme for Cuban
-emancipation by purchase. Indeed, to do the planters justice, they never
-expected anything of the sort, and all the more practical of them asked,
-was to be let down gently. This was effected by the proclamation of what
-was known as the Moret Law in 1870, which at once declared free all
-slaves over sixty years of age, and decreed that every child born after
-that year should be free likewise. In the first instance, the planters
-registered a distinct gain, as they got rid of a number of old and
-decrepit dependants no longer fit for work; but this was offset by the
-compulsory maintenance, until their eighteenth year, of all the free
-offspring of their slaves. Under this law, the odious institution
-perished in something like twenty years, because its burdens gradually
-outweighed its benefits, until the low wage for which the free negro is
-willing to work became the more economical method of production.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thus the strongest tie between Spain and Cuba was snapped, and the party
-of independence gained force, as many planters found no longer any
-advantage in supporting the authority of the crown. The rebellion
-dragged on; the Spanish troops continually poured in having to encounter
-the guerrilla warfare, for which the division of the island afforded so
-many opportunities. For, considerable though the population is,
-two-thirds of it has always been concentrated in the western corner, of
-which Havana is the capital, the remaining districts being very sparsely
-peopled. It is in these rebellion always throve; and the policy adopted
-by General Weyler, when in supreme command, was to make them a desert by
-destroying all sustenance, and forcibly removing the inhabitants, who,
-under the name of Reconcentrados, aroused so much sympathy.</p>
-
-<p>Though the outbreak of 1868 was eventually suppressed, it left a legacy
-of bitter memories and still bitterer exactions. For, true to its policy
-of four centuries, Spain determined that it at least would not be a
-loser, and saddled the entire cost of the military operations, and
-nobody knows what else besides, on the unfortunate island, in the form
-of a debt amounting to about four hundred million dollars. Even this
-might have been tolerated had any attempt been made to establish an
-equitable system of government, because an era of prosperity set in
-which culminated in 1891, when the total exports were valued at no less
-than $100,000,000, and there was ample margin for interest on an
-inflated debt. But the rapacity of Catalan manufacturers, no less than
-of government officials, upset everything; and from the captain-general
-down to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span> humblest trader in Barcelona, all expected to pocket
-something out of the spoils of Cuba. Nor was the plunder limited to
-Spaniards. Despite the restrictions against trading by foreigners,
-adventurers of all nationalities managed to get a foothold in Havana,
-and corruption preyed on corruption. No one, in fact, was expected to be
-honest, and a stranger remarking upon the rascality prevailing in high
-places, would as likely as not be met with a shrug of the shoulders and
-the reply, Robamos todos, “We are all thieves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THE PHILIPPINES</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE FIRST JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD&mdash;FERDINAND MAGELLAN&mdash;THE MOLUCCAS&mdash;THE
-ISLANDS OF THE PAINTED FACES&mdash;MANILA AND THE CHINESE&mdash;THE BRITISH
-INVASION&mdash;SPANISH RULE</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">While</span> Spain was actively engaged in exploration and annexation in the
-west, Portugal was equally busy in the east. Though the Cape of Good
-Hope had been doubled by Diaz in 1486, it was not until 1497, five years
-after the discovery of America, that Vasco da Gama proved the
-possibility of reaching India by that route. Rapid progress, for those
-days at any rate, was made from that time. The actual neighborhood of
-the Cape apparently offered no attractions; the advantages of its
-situation were left to be realized by the Dutch a century later; and it
-was not until Natal was reached on Christmas day, whence its name, that
-there were any thoughts of annexation or settlement. It was the East
-Coast of Africa which seemed to offer the greatest facilities for
-communication and trading with the opposite shores of India, and claimed
-attention accordingly; and as numerous pilots were to be found there,
-skilled in navigating vessels across the Indian Ocean, it was there
-colonies were first established, one of which at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span> least, and the only
-important one remaining to Portugal, Lorenzo Marques, has been the
-object of envy, and the source of much contention in recent years.</p>
-
-<p>From the Malabar coast in the south to Karachi in the north of India,
-Portuguese traders grew active, but, owing to the fierceness and
-determination of the natives, it was found impossible for some years to
-permanently occupy any territory, until Goa was established in 1510, as
-the center of Portuguese interests. A year earlier than this, Malacca
-had been subjugated, and the exploration of Sumatra undertaken; while
-three years later, Francisco Serrao discovered the Moluccas, the
-far-famed islands from which Venice and Genoa had so long drawn their
-stores of valuable spices by the overland route through India and
-Persia, or by the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez. To divert this traffic
-round the Cape of Good Hope, expeditions were fitted out against Muscat
-and Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, and Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea.
-While, then, the Spanish colonists were searching for gold in sufficient
-quantities to make the enterprise pay, much less realize fortunes, the
-Portuguese tapped the source of wealth of the great mercantile
-communities of the Middle Ages; and, monopolizing it themselves,
-rendered their country for a time the richest in the world.</p>
-
-<p>Of the numerous governors dispatched by Portugal to the east, the Duke
-of Albuquerque was the most active, and accomplished the greatest
-results. Serving under him in various capacities was Ferrao Magalhaes,
-or Maghallanes, a young nobleman who sought on every possible occasion
-to distinguish himself. Returning home, he did not receive the reward he
-considered his due; and though<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span> he continued to agitate at court, and to
-urge his claims, on the further ground that since his arrival from the
-east he had taken part in an African campaign, and been permanently
-lamed, he was either repulsed or put off with some trifling concession.
-This rankling in his mind, he determined to divest himself of his
-nationality, and offer his services to Spain, the patron of all foreign
-adventurers.</p>
-
-<p>By the Papal Bull, Spain was debarred from undertaking any enterprise in
-the East. This was, of course, well known to Magalhaes, or Ferdinand
-Magellan, as he now chose to call himself, but he had carefully thought
-the matter out, and arrived at a conclusion of his own. He had heard
-much of the ideas which led to the discovery of America, and though
-other and more important matters then engaged the attention of Spain
-than the discovery of Japan and China by the western route, he still
-considered the plan feasible. He intimated to the Emperor Charles V.,
-then king of Spain, his desire to be intrusted with an expedition, with
-which he would undertake to reach the Moluccas from the west, and so
-prove that they belonged by right to Spain.</p>
-
-<p>News of this treachery reached Portugal, where it was heard with the
-greatest indignation, and an angry correspondence passed between the two
-courts. Charles’s ambitions, however, lay in European aggrandizement,
-for which the demands upon his exchequer were heavier than he well knew
-how to meet. His great possessions in the New World had hitherto been a
-drain upon his scanty resources, as they had been upon those of his
-grandfather before him; and although Ferdinand lived<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span> for a quarter of a
-century after the discovery of America, he left hardly sufficient money
-in his coffers to pay his funeral expenses. Charles, therefore, listened
-eagerly to the proposition by which he might acquire the teeming riches
-of the Spice Islands, and, notwithstanding protests and warnings alike,
-terms were finally agreed to in March, 1518, which placed five ships,
-and a full complement of men, at the disposal of Magellan. Failing any
-other means of putting an end to the enterprise, a plot was formed for
-the assassination of Magellan, but miscarried; and he weighed anchor on
-the 10th of August, 1519, though delayed in his actual departure until
-the 20th of September following.</p>
-
-<p>Instructions were sent to the Brazils, already occupied by Portugal, to
-waylay Magellan, and at all costs prevent the continuance of his voyage;
-and in case he eluded the vigilance of the governor of that settlement,
-a strict watch was to be kept at the Moluccas, and no quarter given him
-if he ever reached there, as he was declared a traitor to the crown of
-Portugal. He arrived at the Rio de la Plata unmolested, and entered that
-river, of great width at its mouth and for some distance along its
-course, with the idea that it offered the long-sought passage to the
-West. The increasing freshness of the water convinced him that it was
-but a river, and he returned and moved his course southward. And now his
-real difficulties began. Winter was setting in with all its rigor, and
-the further south he proceeded the more severe became the weather. His
-crew was most cosmopolitan in character and nationality, and included a
-number of Portuguese, some of whom, it began to be sus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span>pected,&mdash;had been
-bribed to mutiny, if not indeed to murder their commander. Dissensions
-broke out among the captains of the different vessels on petty points of
-precedence and discipline; and only the most determined stand by
-Magellan himself, who did not hesitate to hang several of the crew as an
-example to the rest, prevented the total ruin of his hopes and plans.</p>
-
-<p>To make matters worse, scarcity of provisions began to be experienced,
-and it was then decided to winter in the shelter of the river St.
-Julian. It was in October, 1520, before a fresh start could be made, and
-on the 21st of that month a channel was discovered, the careful
-navigation of which for thirty-eight days, amid shoals and innumerable
-islands, brought them, amid great rejoicing, once more into the open
-sea, proving the theory maintained by Columbus to his dying day to be so
-far, at any rate, correct.</p>
-
-<p>But Magellan, like all his predecessors, sadly miscalculated the
-distance between the remote East and the far West, and after taking in
-such supplies of provisions as were obtainable, renewed his voyage with
-a light heart, and in full expectation of reaching land in a week or two
-at longest. Days grew into weeks, and the weeks passed into months, and
-still no break on the monotonous horizon. The sufferings of the crew
-were horrible, as food and water became gradually exhausted, and they
-had to subsist at last by gnawing anything into which they could get
-their teeth. To turn back was certain destruction, as they could not
-possibly last out the time necessary to cover the distance already
-traversed. To go forward, therefore, was their only chance of salvation;
-and after<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span> a passage of ninety-eight days land was sighted on March 18,
-and the most dreaded of their dangers passed. They had sailed into a
-group of islands, not the Moluccas as they had anticipated, but the
-Islas de las Pintados; so called from the custom of the natives of
-painting or tattooing their naked bodies, and subsequently re-christened
-the Philippines, in honor of the heir to the Spanish throne, who
-afterward reigned as Philip II.</p>
-
-<p>Magellan was not destined to reap the fruits of his enterprise, nor to
-suffer the punishment subsequently inflicted on some of the survivors.
-He found the natives among whom he first landed friendly disposed, but
-rightly suspected them of treachery. Desirous, however, of conciliating
-them as far as possible, he entered into their quarrel with a tribe in a
-neighboring island, and, in the attack which he led against it, was
-slain.</p>
-
-<p>Disputes arose as to who should succeed to the command; and what was
-left of the fleet, after many adventures and the loss of a considerable
-number of the crew, arrived at the island of Tidor in the Moluccas on
-the 8th of November, 1521. There it was decided that the “Victoria”
-should load a cargo of spices and make its way to Spain by the Cape of
-Good Hope, in direct defiance of the rights of the Portuguese, while the
-“Trinidad” should return the way she came. A valuable cargo, consisting
-of about twenty-six tons of cloves, with parcels of cinnamon, sandal
-wood, and nutmegs, was shipped, and after being nearly captured by the
-Portuguese off the African coast, and again at the Canaries, arrived in
-the harbor of San Lucar, as was supposed, on the 6th of September, 1522,
-having sailed round the world in three<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span> years all but a few days.
-Through all their troubles, a careful record of dates had been kept, and
-the officers were surprised to find that what they imagined to be the
-6th was actually the 7th of September in Seville; and they were at a
-loss to know how the one day had been missed, being of course unaware
-that this is the invariable result of circumnavigating the world from
-East to West.</p>
-
-<p>Of the total number of two hundred and eighty hands originally shipped,
-only a remnant remained, of whom seventeen, together with the captain,
-Juan Sebastian Elcano, were on board the “Victoria.”</p>
-
-<p>The city of Seville received them with acclamation; but their first act
-was to walk barefooted, in procession, holding lighted candles in their
-hands, to the church, to give thanks to the Almighty for their safe
-deliverance from the hundred dangers which they had encountered.
-Clothes, money, and all necessaries were supplied to them by royal
-bounty, and Elcano and the most intelligent of his companions were cited
-to appear at court to narrate their adventures. His Majesty received
-them with marked deference. Elcano was rewarded with a life pension of
-five hundred ducats (worth at that date about five hundred and sixty
-dollars), and as a lasting remembrance of his unprecedented feat, his
-royal master knighted him and conceded to him the right of using on his
-escutcheon a globe bearing the motto: “Primus circundedit me.”</p>
-
-<p>Two of Elcano’s officers, Miguel de Rodas and Francisco Alva, were each
-awarded a life pension of fifty thousand maravedis (worth at that time
-about seventy dollars), while the king ordered one-fourth of that fifth
-part of the cargo, which by contract with Maghallanes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span> belonged to the
-State Treasury, to be distributed among the crew, including those
-imprisoned in Santiago Island.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the “Trinidad” was repaired in Tidor and on her way to Panama,
-when continued tempests and the horrible sufferings of the crew
-determined them to retrace their course to the Moluccas. In this
-interval Portuguese ships had arrived there, and a fort was being
-constructed to defend Portuguese interests against the Spaniards, whom
-they regarded as interlopers. The “Trinidad” was seized, and the
-captain, Espinosa, with the survivors of his crew, were afforded a
-passage to Lisbon, which place they reached five years after they had
-set out with Maghallanes.</p>
-
-<p>The enthusiasm of King Charles was equal to the importance of the
-discoveries which gave renown to his subjects and added glory to his
-crown. Notwithstanding a protracted controversy with the Portuguese
-court, which claimed the exclusive right of trading with the Spice
-Islands, he ordered another squadron of six ships to be fitted out for a
-voyage to the Moluccas. The supreme command was confided to Garcia Yofre
-de Loaisa, Knight of St. John, while Sebastian Elcano was appointed
-captain of one of the vessels. After passing through the Magellan
-Straits, the commander, Loaisa, succumbed to the fatigues and privations
-of the stormy voyage. Elcano succeeded him, but only for four days, when
-he too expired. The expedition, however, arrived safely at the Molucca
-Islands, where they found the Portuguese in full possession and strongly
-established; but the long series of combats, struggles and altercations
-which ensued between the rival powers, in which Captain Andres<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span> de
-Urdaneta prominently figured, left no decisive advantage to either
-nation.</p>
-
-<p>But the king was in no way disheartened. A third expedition&mdash;the last
-under his auspices&mdash;was organized and dispatched from the Pacific coast
-of Mexico by the viceroy, by royal mandate. It was composed of two
-ships, two transports and one galley, well manned and armed, chosen from
-the fleet of Pedro Alvarado, late governor of Guatemala. Under the
-leadership of Ruy Lopez do Villalobos it sailed on the 1st of November,
-1542; discovered many small islands in the Pacific; lost the galley on
-the way, and anchored off an island about twenty miles in circumference,
-which was named Antonia. They found its inhabitants very hostile. A
-fight ensued, but the natives finally fled, leaving several Spaniards
-wounded, of whom six died. Villalobos then announced his intention of
-remaining here some time, and ordered his men to plant maize. At first
-they demurred, saying that they had come to fight, not to till land, but
-at length necessity urged them to obedience, and a small but
-insufficient crop was reaped in due season. Hard pressed for food, they
-lived principally on cats, rats, lizards, snakes, dogs, roots and wild
-fruit, and several died of disease. In this plight a ship was sent to
-Mindanao Island, commanded by Bernado de la Torre, to seek provisions.
-The voyage was fruitless. The party was opposed by the inhabitants, who
-fortified themselves, but were dislodged and slain. Then a vessel was
-commissioned to Mexico with news and to solicit re-enforcements. On the
-way, Volcano Island (of the Ladrone Islands group) was discovered on the
-6th of August, 1543. A most important event followed. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span> galiot was
-built and dispatched to the islands (it is doubtful which), named by
-this expedition the Philippine Islands in honor of Philip, Prince of
-Asturias, the son of King Charles I., heir apparent to the throne of
-Castile, to which he ascended in 1555 under the title of Philip II., on
-the abdication of his father.</p>
-
-<p>The craft returned from the Philippine Islands laden with abundance of
-provisions, with which the ships were enabled to continue the voyage.</p>
-
-<p>By the royal instructions, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos was strictly enjoined
-not to touch at the Molucca Islands, peace having been concluded with
-Portugal. Heavy gales forced him, nevertheless, to take refuge at
-Gilolo. The Portuguese, suspicious of his intentions in view of the
-treaty, arrayed their forces against his, inciting the king of the
-island also to discard all Spanish overtures and refuse assistance to
-Villalobos. The discord and contentions between the Portuguese and
-Spaniards were increasing; nothing was being gained by either party.
-Villalobos personally was sorely disheartened in the struggle, fearing
-all the while that his opposition to the Portuguese in contravention of
-the royal instructions would only excite the king’s displeasure and lead
-to his own downfall. Hence he decided to capitulate with his rival and
-accepted a safe conduct for himself and party to Europe in Portuguese
-ships. They arrived at Amboina Island, where Villalobos, already crushed
-by grief, succumbed to disease. The survivors of the expedition, among
-whom were several priests, continued the journey home via Malacca,
-Cochin-China and Goa, where they embarked for Lisbon, arriving there in
-1549.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In 1558, King Charles was no more, but the memory of his ambition
-outlived him. His son Philip, equally emulous and unscrupulous, was too
-narrow-minded and subtly cautious to initiate an expensive enterprise
-encompassed by so many hazards&mdash;as materially unproductive as it was
-devoid of immediate political importance. Indeed the basis of the first
-expedition was merely to discover a western route to the rich Spice
-Islands, already known to exist; the second went there to attempt to
-establish Spanish empire; and the third to search for and annex to the
-Spanish crown lands as wealthy as those claimed by and now yielded to
-the Portuguese.</p>
-
-<p>But the value of the Philippine Islands, of which the possession was but
-recent and nominal, was thus far a matter of doubt.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most brave and intrepid captains of the Loaisa
-expedition&mdash;Andres de Urdaneta&mdash;returned to Spain in 1536. In former
-years he had fought under King Charles I., in his wars in Italy, when
-the study of navigation served him as a favorite pastime. Since his
-return from the Moluccas his constant attention was given to the project
-of a new expedition to the Far West, for which he unremittingly
-solicited the royal sanction and assistance. But the king had grown old
-and weary of the world, and, while he did not openly discourage
-Urdaneta’s pretensions, he gave him no effective aid. At length in 1553,
-two years before Charles abdicated, Urdaneta, convinced of the futility
-of his importunity at the Spanish court, and equally unsuccessful with
-his scheme in other quarters, retired to Mexico, where he took the habit
-of an Augustine monk. Ten years afterward, King Philip, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span>spired by the
-religious sentiment which pervaded his whole policy, urged his viceroy
-in Mexico to fit out an expedition to conquer and Christianize the
-Philippine Islands. Urdaneta, now a priest, was not overlooked.
-Accompanied by five priests of his order, he was intrusted with the
-spiritual care of the races to be subdued by an expedition composed of
-four ships and one frigate well armed, carrying four hundred soldiers
-and sailors, commanded by a Basque navigator, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.
-This remarkable man was destined to acquire the fame of having
-established Spanish dominion in these islands. He was of noble birth and
-a native of the province of Guipuzcoa in Spain. Having settled in the
-City of Mexico, of which place he was elected mayor, he there practiced
-as a notary. Of undoubted piety, he enjoyed a reputation for his justice
-and loyalty, hence he was appointed general of the forces equipped for
-the voyage.</p>
-
-<p>The favorite desire to possess the valuable Spice Islands still lurked
-in the minds of many Spaniards&mdash;among them was Urdaneta, who labored in
-vain to persuade the viceroy of the superior advantages to be gained by
-annexing New Guinea instead of the Philippines&mdash;whence the conquest of
-the Moluccas would be but a facile task. However, the viceroy was
-inexorable and resolved to fulfill the royal instructions to the letter;
-so the expedition set sail from the Mexican port of Navidad for the
-Philippine Islands on the 21st of November, 1564.</p>
-
-<p>The Ladrone Islands were passed on the 9th of January, 1565, and on the
-13th of the following month the Philippines were sighted. A call for
-provisions was made at several small islands, including Camiguin, whence
-the ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span>pedition sailed to Bojol Island. A boat dispatched to the port of
-Butuan returned in a fortnight with the news that there was much gold,
-wax and cinnamon in that district. A small vessel was also sent to Cebu,
-and on its return reported that the natives showed hostility, having
-decapitated one of the crew while he was bathing.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, General Legaspi resolved to put in at Cebu, which was a
-safe port; and on the way there the ships anchored off Limasana Island
-(to the south of Leyte). Thence, running S.W., the port of Dapitan
-(Mindanao Island) was reached.</p>
-
-<p>Prince Pagbuaya, who ruled there, was astonished at the sight of such
-formidable ships, and commissioned one of his subjects, specially chosen
-for his boldness, to take note of their movements and report to him. His
-account was uncommonly interesting. He related that enormous men with
-long pointed noses, dressed in fine robes, ate stones (hard biscuits),
-drank fire and blew smoke out of their mouths and through their
-nostrils. Their power was such that they commanded thunder and lightning
-(discharge of artillery), and that at meal times they sat down at a
-clothed table. From their lofty port, their bearded faces and rich
-attire, they might have been the very gods manifesting themselves to the
-natives; so the prince thought it wise to accept the friendly overtures
-of such marvelous strangers. Besides obtaining ample provisions in
-barter for European wares, Legaspi procured from this chieftain much
-useful information respecting the condition of Cebu. He learned that it
-was esteemed a powerful kingdom, of which the magnificence was much
-vaunted among the neighboring states; that the port was one of great
-safety<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span> and the most favorably situated among the islands of the painted
-faces.</p>
-
-<p>The general resolved therefore to filch it from its native king and
-annex it to the crown of Castile.</p>
-
-<p>He landed in Cebu on the 27th of April, 1565, and negotiations were
-entered into with the natives of that island. Remembering how
-successfully they had rid themselves of Maghallanes’ party, they
-naturally opposed this renewed menace to their independence. The
-Spaniards occupied the town by force and sacked it, but for months were
-so harassed by the surrounding tribes that a council was convened to
-discuss the prudence of continuing the occupation. The general decided
-to remain, and, little by little, the natives yielded to the new
-condition of things, and thus the first step toward the final conquest
-was achieved. The natives were declared Spanish subjects, and hopeful
-with the success thus far attained, Legaspi determined to send
-dispatches to the king by the priest Urdaneta, who safely arrived at
-Navidad on the 3d of October, 1565, and proceeded thence to Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The pacification of Cebu and the adjacent islands was steadily and
-successfully pursued by Legaspi; the confidence of the natives was
-assured, and their dethroned king Tupas accepted Christian baptism,
-while his daughter married a Spaniard.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of the invaders’ felicity, the Portuguese arrived to
-dispute the possession, but they were compelled to retire. A fortress
-was constructed and plots of land were marked out for the building of
-the Spanish settlers’ residences, and finally, in 1570, Cebu was
-declared a city, after Legaspi had received from his royal master the
-title<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span> of governor-general of all the lands which he might be able to
-conquer.</p>
-
-<p>In May, 1570, Captain Juan Salcedo, Legaspi’s grandson, was dispatched
-to the Island of Luzon to reconnoiter the territory and bring it under
-Spanish dominion.</p>
-
-<p>The history of these early times is very confused, and there are many
-contradictions in the authors of the Philippine chronicles, none of
-which seems to have been written contemporaneously with the first
-events. It appears, however, that Martin de Goiti and a few soldiers
-accompanied Salcedo to the north. They were well received by the native
-chiefs or petty kings Lacandola, rajah of Tondo (known as Rajah Matanda,
-which means in native dialect the aged rajah), and his nephew, the young
-Rajah Soliman of Manila.</p>
-
-<p>The sight of a body of European troops, armed as was the custom in the
-sixteenth century, must have profoundly impressed and overawed these
-chieftains, otherwise it seems almost incredible that they should have
-consented, without protest, or attempt at resistance, to (forever) give
-up their territory, yield their independence, pay tribute,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and become
-the tools of invading for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span>eigners with which to conquer their own race,
-without recompense whatsoever.</p>
-
-<p>A treaty of peace was signed and ratified by an exchange of drops of
-blood between the parties thereto. Soliman, however, soon repented of
-his poltroonery, and raised the war-cry among some of his tribes. To
-save his capital (then called Maynila) falling into the hands of the
-invaders he set fire to it. Lacandola remained passively watching the
-issue. Soliman was completely routed by Salcedo, and pardoned on his
-again swearing fealty to the King of Spain. Goiti remained in the
-vicinity of Manila with his troops, while Salcedo fought his way to the
-Bombon Lake (Taal) district. The present Batangas Province was subdued
-by him and included in the jurisdiction of Mindoro Island. During the
-campaign, Salcedo was severely wounded by an arrow and returned to
-Manila.</p>
-
-<p>Legaspi was in the Island of Panay when Salcedo (some writers say Goiti)
-arrived to advise him of what had occurred in Luzon. They at once
-proceeded together to Cavite, where Lacandola visited Legaspi on board,
-and, prostrating himself, averred his submission. Then Legaspi continued
-his journey to Manila, and was received there with acclamation. He took
-formal possession of the sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span>rounding territory, declared Manila to be
-the capital of the archipelago, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the
-King of Spain over the whole group of islands. Gaspar de San Augustin,
-writing of this period, says: “He (Legaspi) ordered them (the natives)
-to finish the building of the fort in construction at the mouth of the
-river (Pasig), so that his majesty’s artillery might be mounted therein
-for the defense of the port and the town. Also he ordered them to build
-a large house inside the battlement walls for Legaspi’s own
-residence&mdash;another large house and church for the priests, etc....
-Besides these two large houses he told them to erect one hundred and
-fifty dwellings of moderate size for the remainder of the Spaniards to
-live in. All this they promptly promised to do, but they did not obey,
-for the Spaniards were themselves obliged to terminate the work of the
-fortifications.”</p>
-
-<p>The City Council of Manila was constituted on the 24th of June, 1571. On
-the 20th of August, 1572, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi succumbed to the
-fatigues of his arduous life, leaving behind him a name which will
-always maintain a prominent place in Spanish colonial history. He was
-buried in Manila in the Augustine Chapel of San Fausto, where hung the
-royal standard and the hero’s armorial bearings until the British troops
-occupied the city in 1763.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">For now he lives in fame, though not in life.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i8">&mdash;“Richard III.,” Act 3, Sc. 1.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the meantime Salcedo continued his task of subjecting the tribes in
-the interior The natives of Tay<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span>tay, and Cainta, in the present military
-district of Morong, submitted to him on the 15th of August, 1571. He
-returned to the Laguna de Bay to pacify the villagers, and penetrated as
-far as Camarines Norte to explore the Bicol River. Bolinao and the
-provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos yielded to his prowess, and in this
-last province he had well established himself when the defense of the
-capital obliged him to return to Manila.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, Martin de Goiti was actively employed in overrunning
-the Pampanga territory, with the double object of procuring supplies for
-the Manila camp and coercing the inhabitants on his way to acknowledge
-their now liege lord. It is recorded that in this expedition Goiti was
-joined by the rajahs of Tondo and Manila. Yet Lacandola appears to have
-been regarded more as a servant of the Spaniards <i>nolens volens</i> than as
-a free ally; for, because he absented himself from Goiti’s camp “without
-license from the Maestre de Campo,” he was suspected by some writers of
-having favored opposition to the Spaniards’ incursions in the Marshes of
-Hagonoy (Pampanga coast, northern boundary of Manila Bay).</p>
-
-<p>The district which constituted the ancient province of Taal y Balayan,
-subsequently denominated Province of Batangas, was formerly governed by
-a number of caciques, the most notable of which were Gatpagil and
-Gatjinlintan. They were usually at war with their neighbors.
-Gatjinlintan, the cacique of the Batangas River at the time of the
-conquest, was famous for his valor. Gatsungayan, who ruled on the other
-side of the river, was celebrated as a hunter of deer and wild boar.
-These men were half-castes of Borneo and Aeta extraction, who formed a
-dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span>tinct race called by the natives Daghagang. None of them would
-submit to the King of Spain or become Christians, hence their
-descendants were offered no privileges.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of General Legaspi, the government of the colony was
-assumed by the royal treasurer, Guido de Lavezares, in conformity with
-the sealed instructions from the Supreme Court of Mexico, which were now
-opened. During this period, the possession of the islands was
-unsuccessfully disputed by a rival expedition under the command of a
-Chinaman, Li-ma-hong, whom the Spaniards were pleased to term a pirate,
-forgetting, perhaps, that they themselves had only recently wrested the
-country from its former possessors by virtue of might against right.</p>
-
-<p>On the coasts of his native country he had indeed been a pirate. For the
-many depredations committed by him against private traders and property,
-the Celestial Emperor, failing to catch him by cajolery, outlawed him.</p>
-
-<p>Born in the port of Tiuchiu, Li-ma-hong at an early age evinced a
-martial spirit and joined a band of corsairs, which for a long time had
-been the terror of the China coasts. On the demise of his chief he was
-unanimously elected leader of the buccaneering cruisers. At length,
-pursued in all directions by the imperial ships of war, he determined to
-attempt the conquest of the Philippines. Presumably the same incentives
-which impelled the Spanish mariners to conquer lands and overthrow
-dynasties&mdash;the vision of wealth, glory and empire&mdash;awakened a like
-ambition in the Chinese adventurer. It was the spirit of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span> age.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In
-his sea-wanderings he happened to fall in with a Chinese trading-junk
-returning from Manila with the proceeds of her cargo sold there. This he
-seized, and the captive crew were constrained to pilot his fleet toward
-the capital of Luzon. From them he learned how easily the natives had
-been plundered by a handful of foreigners&mdash;the probable extent of the
-opposition he might encounter&mdash;the defenses established&mdash;the wealth and
-resources of the district and the nature of its inhabitants.</p>
-
-<p>His fleet consisted of sixty-two warships or armed junks, well found,
-having on board two thousand sailors, two thousand soldiers, one
-thousand five hundred women, a number of artisans, and all that could be
-conveniently carried with which to gain and organize his new kingdom. On
-its way the squadron cast anchor off the province of Ilocos Sur, where a
-few troops were sent ashore to get provisions. While returning to the
-junks, they sacked the village and set fire to the huts. The news of
-this outrage was hastily communicated to Juan Salcedo, who had been
-pacifying the northern provinces since July, 1572, and was at the time
-in Villa Fernandina (now called Vigan). Li-ma-hong continued his course
-until calms compelled his ships to anchor in the roads of Caoayan
-(Ilocos coast), where a few Spanish soldiers were stationed under the
-orders of Juan Salcedo, who still was in the immediate town of Vigan.
-Under his direction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span> preparations were made to prevent the enemy
-entering the river, but such was not Li-ma-hong’s intention. He again
-set sail; while Salcedo, naturally supposing his course would be toward
-Manila, also started at the same time for the capital with all the
-fighting men he could collect, leaving only thirty men to garrison Vigan
-and protect the State interests there.</p>
-
-<p>On the 29th of November, 1574, the squadron arrived in the Bay of
-Manila, and Li-ma-hong sent forward his lieutenant, Sioco&mdash;a
-Japanese&mdash;at the head of six hundred fighting men, to demand the
-surrender of the Spaniards. A strong gale, however, destroyed several of
-his junks, in which about two hundred men perished.</p>
-
-<p>With the remainder he reached the coast at Paranaque, a village a few
-miles south of Manila. Thence, with towlines, the four hundred soldiers
-hauled their junks up to the beach of the capital.</p>
-
-<p>Already at the village of Malate the alarm was raised, but the Spaniards
-could not give credit to the reports, and no resistance was offered
-until the Chinese were within the gates of the city. Martin de Goiti,
-the Maestre de Campo, second in command to the governor, was the first
-victim of the attack.</p>
-
-<p>The flames and smoke arising from his burning residence were the first
-indications which the governor received of what was going on. The
-Spaniards took refuge in the fort of Santiago, which the Chinese were on
-the point of taking by storm, when their attention was drawn elsewhere
-by the arrival of fresh troops led by a Spanish sub-lieutenant. Under
-the mistaken impression that these were the vanguard of a formidable
-corps, Sioco sounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span> the retreat. A bloody hand-to-hand combat
-followed, and with great difficulty the Chinese collected their dead and
-regained their junks.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime Li-ma-hong, with the reserved forces, was lying in the
-roadstead of Cavite, and Sioco hastened to report to him the result of
-the attack, which had cost the invader over one hundred dead and more
-than that number wounded. Thereupon Li-ma-hong resolved to rest his
-troops and renew the conflict in two days’ time under his personal
-supervision. The next day Juan Salcedo arrived by sea with
-re-enforcements from Vigan, and preparations were unceasingly made for
-the expected encounter. Salcedo having been appointed to the office of
-Maestre de Campo, vacant since the death of Goiti, the organization of
-the defense was intrusted to his immediate care.</p>
-
-<p>By daybreak on the 3d of December, the enemy’s fleet hove-to off the
-capital, where Li-ma-hong harangued his troops, while the cornets and
-drums of the Spaniards were sounding the alarm for their fighting men to
-assemble in the fort.</p>
-
-<p>Then fifteen hundred chosen men, well armed, were disembarked under the
-leadership of Sioco, who swore to take the place or die in the attempt.
-Sioco separated his forces into three divisions. The city was set fire
-to, and Sioco advanced toward the fort, into which hand-grenades were
-thrown, while Li-ma-hong supported the attack with his ships’ cannon.</p>
-
-<p>Sioco, with his division, at length entered the fort, and a hand-to-hand
-fight ensued. For a while the issue was doubtful. Salcedo fought like a
-lion. Even the aged governor was well at the front to encourage the
-deadly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span> struggle for existence. The Spaniards finally gained the
-victory; the Chinese were repulsed with great slaughter; and their
-leader having been killed, they fled in complete disorder. Salcedo,
-profiting by the confusion, now took the offensive and followed up the
-enemy, pursuing them along the sea-shore, where they were joined by the
-third division, which had remained inactive. The panic of the Chinese
-spread rapidly, and Li-ma-hong, in despair, landed another contingent of
-about five hundred men, while he still continued afloat; but even with
-this re-enforcement the morale of his army could not be regained.</p>
-
-<p>The Chinese troops therefore, harassed on all sides, made a precipitate
-retreat on board the fleet, and Li-ma-hong set sail again for the west
-coast of the island. Foiled in the attempt to possess himself of Manila,
-Li-ma-hong determined to set up his capital in other parts. In a few
-days he arrived at the mouth of the Agno River, in the province of
-Pangasinan, where he proclaimed to the natives that he had gained a
-signal victory over the Spaniards. The inhabitants there, having no
-particular choice between two masters, received Li-ma-hong with welcome,
-and he thereupon set about the foundation of his new capital some four
-miles from the mouth of the river.</p>
-
-<p>Months passed before the Spaniards came in force to dislodge the
-invader. Feeling themselves secure in their new abode, the Chinese had
-built many dwellings, a small fortress, a pagoda, etc. At length an
-expedition was dispatched under the command of Juan Salcedo. This was
-composed of about two hundred and fifty Spaniards and one thousand six
-hundred natives well equipped<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> with small arms, ammunition and
-artillery. The flower of the Spanish colony, accompanied by two priests
-and the Rajah of Tondo, set out to expel the formidable foe. Li-ma-hong
-made a bold resistance and refused to come to terms with Salcedo. In the
-meantime, the Viceroy of Fokien, having heard of Li-ma-hong’s daring
-exploits, had commissioned a ship of war to discover the whereabout of
-his imperial master’s old enemy. The envoy was received with delight by
-the Spaniards, who invited him to accompany them to Manila to interview
-the governor.</p>
-
-<p>Li-ma-hong still held out, but perceiving that an irresistible onslaught
-was being projected against him by Salcedo’s party, he very cunningly
-and quite unexpectedly gave them the slip, and sailed out of the river
-with his ships by one of the mouths unknown to his enemies.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In order
-to divert the attention of the Spaniards, Li-ma-hong ingeniously feigned
-an assault in an opposite quarter. Of course, on his escape, he had to
-abandon the troops employed in this maneuver. These, losing all hope,
-and having, indeed, nothing but their lives to fight for, fled to the
-mountains. Hence, it is popularly supposed that from these fugitives
-descends the race of people in that province still distinguishable by
-their oblique eyes and known by the name of Igorrote-Chinese.</p>
-
-<p>“Aide toi et Dieu t’aidera” is an old French maxim,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span> but the Spaniards
-chose to attribute their deliverance from their Chinese rival to the
-friendly intervention of Saint Andrew. This saint was declared
-thenceforth to be the patron saint of Manila, and in his honor High Mass
-is celebrated in the Cathedral at 8 <small>A.M.</small> on the 30th of each November.
-It is a public holiday and gala-day, when all the highest civil,
-military and religious authorities attend the “Funcion votiva de San
-Andrés.” This opportunity to assert the supremacy of ecclesiastical
-power was not lost to the Church, and for many years it was the custom,
-after hearing Mass, to spread the Spanish national flag on the floor of
-the Cathedral for the metropolitan archbishop to walk over it. It has
-been asserted, however, that a few years ago the governor-general
-refused to witness this antiquated formula, which, in public at least,
-no longer obtains. Now it is the practice to carry the royal standard
-before the altar. Both before and after the Mass, the bearer (Alférez
-Real), wearing his hat and accompanied by the mayor of the city, stands
-on the altar-floor, raises his hat three times, and three times dips the
-flag before the Image of Christ, then, facing the public, he repeats
-this ceremony. On Saint Andrew’s eve, the royal standard is borne in
-procession from the Cathedral through the principal streets of the city,
-escorted by civil functionaries and followed by a band of music. This
-ceremony is known as the “Paseo del Real Pendon.”</p>
-
-<p>According to Juan de la Concepcion, the Rajahs<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Soliman and Lacandola
-took advantage of these troubles to raise a rebellion against the
-Spaniards. The natives too<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span> of Mindoro Island revolted and maltreated
-the priests, but all these disturbances were speedily quelled by a
-detachment of soldiers.</p>
-
-<p>The governor willingly accepted the offer of the commander of the
-Chinese man-of-war to convey embassadors to his country to visit the
-viceroy and make a commercial treaty. Therefore two priests, Martin Rada
-and Geronimo Martin, were commissioned to carry a letter of greeting and
-presents to this personage, who received them with great distinction,
-but objected to their residing in the country.</p>
-
-<p>After the defeat of Li-ma-hong, Juan Salcedo again repaired to the
-northern provinces of Luzon Island, to continue his task of reducing the
-natives to submission. On the 11th of March, 1576, he died of fever near
-Vigan (then called Villa Fernandina), capital of the province of Ilocos
-Sur. A year afterward, what could be found of his bones were placed in
-the ossuary of his illustrious grandfather, Legaspi, in the Augustine
-Chapel of Saint Fausto, Manila. His skull, however, which had been
-carried off by the natives of Ilocos, could not be recovered in spite of
-all threats and promises. In Vigan there is a small monument raised to
-commemorate the deeds of this famous warrior, and there is also a street
-bearing his name.</p>
-
-<p>For several years following these events, the question of prestige in
-the civil affairs of the colony was acrimoniously contested by the
-governor-general, the supreme court and the ecclesiastics.</p>
-
-<p>The governor was censured by his opponents for alleged undue exercise of
-arbitrary authority. The supreme court,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span> established on the Mexican
-model, was reproached with seeking to overstep the limits of its
-functions. Every legal quibble was adjusted by a dilatory process,
-impracticable in a colony yet in its infancy, where summary justice was
-indispensable for the maintenance of order imperfectly understood by the
-masses. But the fault lay less with the justices than with the
-constitution of the court itself. Nor was this state of affairs improved
-by the growing discontent and immoderate ambition of the clergy, who
-unremittingly urged their pretensions to immunity from State control,
-affirming the supramundane condition of their office.</p>
-
-<p>An excellent code of laws, called the Leyes de Indias, in force in
-Mexico, was adopted here, but modifications in harmony with the special
-conditions of this colony were urgently necessary, while all the
-branches of government called for reorganization or reform. Under these
-circumstances, the bishop of Manila, Domingo Salazar, took the
-initiative in commissioning a priest, Fray Alonso Sanchez, to repair
-first to the viceroy of Mexico and afterward to the King of Spain, to
-expose the grievances of his party.</p>
-
-<p>Alonso Sanchez left the Philippines with his appointment as
-procurator-general for the Augustine order of monks. As the execution of
-the proposed reforms, which he was charged to lay before his majesty,
-would, if conceded, be intrusted to the government of Mexico, his first
-care was to seek the partisanship of the viceroy of that colony; and in
-this he succeeded. Thence he continued his journey to Seville, where the
-court happened to be, arriving there in September, 1587. He was at once
-granted an audience by the king, to present his cre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span>dentials and
-memorials relative to Philippine affairs in general; and ecclesiastical
-judicial, military and native matters in particular. The king promised
-to peruse all the documents, but suffering from gout, and having so many
-and distinct State concerns to attend to, the negotiations were greatly
-delayed. Finally, Sanchez sought a minister who had easy access to the
-royal apartments, and this personage obtained from the king permission
-to examine the documents and hand to him a succinct resumé of the whole
-for his majesty’s consideration. A commission was then appointed,
-including Sanchez, and the deliberations lasted five months.</p>
-
-<p>At this period, public opinion in the Spanish universities was very
-divided with respect to Catholic missions in the Indies.</p>
-
-<p>Some maintained that the propaganda of the faith ought to be purely
-Apostolic, such as Jesus Christ taught to his disciples, inculcating
-doctrines of humility and poverty without arms or violence, and if,
-nevertheless, the heathens refused to welcome this mission of peace, the
-missionaries should simply abandon them in silence without further
-demonstration than that of shaking the dust off their feet.</p>
-
-<p>Others opined, and among them was Sanchez, that such a method was
-useless and impracticable, and that it was justifiable to force their
-religion upon primitive races at the point of the sword if necessary,
-using any violence to enforce its acceptance.</p>
-
-<p>Much ill-feeling was aroused in the discussion of these two and distinct
-theories. Juan Volante, a Dominican friar of the Convent of Our Lady of
-Atocha, presented<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span> a petition against the views of the Sanchez faction,
-declaring that the idea of ingrafting religion with the aid of arms was
-scandalous. Fray Juan Volante was so importunate, that he had to be
-heard in council, but neither party yielded. At length, the intervention
-of the bishops of Manila, Macao and Malacca and several captains and
-governors in the Indies influenced the king to put an end to the
-controversy, on the ground that it would lead to no good.</p>
-
-<p>The king retired to the Monastery of the Escorial, and Sanchez was cited
-to meet him there to learn the royal will. About the same time the news
-reached the king of the loss of the so-called Invincible Armada, sent
-under the command of the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia to annex
-England. Notwithstanding this severe blow to the vain ambition of
-Philip, the affairs of the Philippines were delayed but a short time. On
-the basis of the recommendation of the junta, the royal assent was given
-to an important decree, of which the most significant articles are the
-following, namely:&mdash;The tribute was fixed by the king at ten reales per
-annum, payable by the natives in gold, silver, or grain, or part in one
-commodity and part in the other. Of this tribute, eight reales were to
-be paid to the treasury, one half real to the bishop and clergy, and one
-real and a half to be applied to the maintenance of the soldiery. Full
-tribute was not to be exacted from the natives still unsubjected to the
-crown. Until their confidence and loyalty should be gained by friendly
-overtures, they were to pay a small recognition of vassalage, and
-subsequently the tribute in common with the rest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Instead of one-fifth value of gold and hidden treasure due to his
-majesty (real quinto), he would henceforth receive only one-tenth of
-such value, excepting that of gold, which the natives would be permitted
-to extract free of rebate.</p>
-
-<p>A customs duty of 3 per cent ad valorem was to be paid on merchandise
-sold, and this duty was to be spent on the army.</p>
-
-<p>Export duty was to be paid on goods shipped to New Spain (Mexico), and
-this impost was also to be exclusively spent on the armed forces.</p>
-
-<p>The number of European troops in the colony was fixed at four hundred
-men-at-arms, divided into six companies, each under a captain, a
-sub-lieutenant, a sergeant, and two corporals. Their pay was to be as
-follows, namely: Captain thirty-five dollars, sub-lieutenant twenty
-dollars, sergeant ten dollars, corporal seven dollars, rank and file six
-dollars per month; besides which, an annual gratuity of ten thousand
-dollars was to be proportionately distributed to all.</p>
-
-<p>Recruits from Mexico were not to enlist under the age of fifteen years.</p>
-
-<p>The captain-general was to have a body-guard of twenty-four men
-(halberdiers), with the pay of those of the line, under the immediate
-command of a captain to be paid fifteen dollars per month.</p>
-
-<p>Salaries due to State employés were to be punctually paid when due; and
-when funds were wanted for that purpose they were to be supplied from
-Mexico.</p>
-
-<p>The king made a donation of twelve thousand dollars, which, with another
-like sum to be contributed by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span> Spaniards themselves, would serve to
-liquidate the debts incurred on their first occupation of the islands.</p>
-
-<p>The governor and bishop were recommended to consider the project of a
-refuge for young Spanish women arrived from Spain, and to study the
-question of dowries for native women married to poor Spaniards.</p>
-
-<p>The offices of secretaries and notaries were no longer to be sold, but
-conferred on persons who merited such appointments.</p>
-
-<p>The governors were instructed not to make grants of land to their
-relations, servants or friends, but solely to those who should have
-resided at least three years in the islands, and have worked the lands
-so conceded. Any grants which might have already been made to the
-relations of the governors or magistrates were to be canceled.</p>
-
-<p>The rent paid by the Chinese for the land they occupied was to be
-applied to the necessities of the capital.</p>
-
-<p>The governor and bishop were to enjoin the judges not to permit costly
-lawsuits, but to execute summary justice verbally, and, so far as
-possible, fines were not to be inflicted.</p>
-
-<p>The city of Manila was to be fortified in a manner to insure it against
-all further attacks or risings.</p>
-
-<p>Four penitentiaries were to be established in the islands in the most
-convenient places, with the necessary garrisons, and six to eight
-galleys and frigates well armed and ready for defense against the
-English corsairs which might come by way of the Moluccas.</p>
-
-<p>In the most remote and unexplored parts of the islands, the governor was
-to have unlimited powers to act<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> as he should please, without consulting
-his majesty; but projected enterprises of conversion, pacification,
-etc., at the expense of the royal treasury, were to be submitted to a
-council, comprising the bishop, the captains, etc. The governor was
-authorized to capitulate and agree with the captains and others who
-might care to undertake conversions and pacifications on their own
-account, and to concede the title of Maestre de Campo to such persons,
-on condition that such capitulations should be forwarded to his majesty
-for ratification.</p>
-
-<p>Only those persons domiciled in the islands would be permitted to trade
-with them.</p>
-
-<p>A sum of one thousand dollars was to be taken from the tributes paid
-into the royal treasury for the foundation of the hospital for the
-Spaniards, and the annual sum of six hundred dollars, appropriated by
-the governor for its support, was confirmed. Moreover, the royal
-treasury of Mexico was to send clothing to the value of four hundred
-ducats for the hospital use.</p>
-
-<p>The hospital for the natives was to receive an annual donation of six
-hundred dollars for its support, and an immediate supply of clothing
-from Mexico to the value of two hundred dollars.</p>
-
-<p>Slaves held by Spaniards were to be immediately set at liberty. No
-native was thenceforth to be enslaved. All new-born natives were
-declared free. The bondage of all existing slaves from ten years of age
-was to cease on their attaining twenty years of age. Those above twenty
-years of age were to serve five years longer, and then become free. At
-any time, notwithstanding the foregoing conditions, they would be
-entitled to purchase their liberty, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span> price of which was to be
-determined by the governor and the bishop.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
-
-<p>There being no tithes payable to the church by Spaniards or natives, the
-clergy were to receive for their maintenance the half real above
-mentioned in lieu thereof, from the tribute paid by each native
-subjected to the crown. When the Spaniards should have crops, they were
-to pay tithes to the clergy.</p>
-
-<p>A grant was made of twelve thousand ducats for the building and
-ornaments of the Cathedral, and an immediate advance of two thousand
-ducats, on account of this grant, was made from the funds to be remitted
-from Mexico.</p>
-
-<p>Forty Austin friars were to be sent at once to the Philippines, to be
-followed by missionaries from other corporations. The king allowed five
-hundred dollars to be paid against the one thousand dollars’ passage
-money for each priest, the balance to be defrayed out of the common
-funds of the clergy, derived from their share of the tribute.</p>
-
-<p>Missionaries in great numbers had already flocked to the Philippines and
-roamed wherever they thought fit, without license from the bishop, whose
-authority they utterly repudiated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Affirming that they had the direct consent of his holiness the Pope,
-they menaced with excommunication whosoever attempted to impede them in
-their free peregrination. Five years after the foundation of Manila, the
-city and environs were infested with niggardly mendicant friars, whose
-slothful habits placed their supercilious countrymen in ridicule before
-the natives. They were tolerated but a short time in the islands; not
-altogether because of the ruin they would have brought to European moral
-influence on the untutored tribes, but because the bishop was highly
-jealous of all competition against the Augustine order to which he
-belonged. Consequent on the representations of Fray Alonso Sanchez, his
-majesty ordained that all priests who went to the Philippines were, in
-the first place, to resolve never to quit the islands without the
-bishop’s sanction, which was to be conceded with great circumspection
-and only in extreme cases, while the governor was instructed not to
-afford them means of exit on his sole authority.</p>
-
-<p>Neither did the bishop regard with satisfaction the presence of the
-commissary of the Inquisition, whose secret investigations, shrouded
-with mystery, curtailed the liberty of the loftiest functionary, sacred
-or civil. At the instigation of Fray Alonso Sanchez, the junta
-recommended the king to recall the commissary and extinguish the office,
-but he refused to do so. In short, the chief aims of the bishop were to
-enhance the power of the friars, raise the dignity of the colonial
-miter, and secure a religious monopoly for the Augustine order.</p>
-
-<p>Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was the next governor appointed to these islands,
-on the recommendation of Fray<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span> Alonso Sanchez. In the royal instructions
-which he brought with him were embodied all the above mentioned civil,
-ecclesiastical and military reforms.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, King Philip abolished the supreme court. He wished to
-put an end to the interminable lawsuits so prejudicial to the
-development of the colony. Therefore the president and magistrates were
-replaced by justices of the peace, and the former returned to Mexico in
-1591. This measure served only to widen the breach between the bishop
-and the civil government. Dasmarinas compelled him to keep within the
-sphere of his sacerdotal functions, and tolerated no rival in State
-concerns. There was no appeal on the spot against the governor’s
-authority. This restraint irritated and disgusted the bishop to such a
-degree, that at the age of seventy-eight years he resolved to present
-himself at the Spanish court. On his arrival there, he manifested to the
-king the impossibility of one bishop attending to the spiritual wants of
-a people dispersed over so many islands. For seven years after the
-foundation of Manila, as capital of the archipelago, its principal
-church was simply a parish church. In 1578 it was raised to the dignity
-of a cathedral, at the instance of the king. Three years after this date
-the Cathedral of Manila was solemnly declared to be a “Suffragan
-Cathedral of Mexico, under the Advocation of Our Lady of the Immaculate
-Conception”; Domingo Salazar being the first bishop consecrated. He now
-proposed to raise the Manila see to an archbishopric, with three
-suffragan bishops. The king gave his consent, subject to approval from
-Rome, and, this following in due course, Salazar was appointed first
-archbishop of Manila;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span> but he died before the Papal Bull arrived, dated
-the 14th of August, 1595, officially authorizing his investiture.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime, Alonso Sanchez had proceeded to Rome in May, 1589.
-Among many other Pontifical favors conceded to him, he obtained the
-right for himself, or his assigns, to use a die or stamp of any form
-with one or more images; to be chosen by the holder, and to contain also
-the figure of Christ, the Very Holy Virgin, or the Saint&mdash;Peter or Paul.
-On the reverse was to be engraven a bust portrait of His Holiness with
-the following indulgences attached thereto, viz.:-“To him who should
-convey the word of God to the infidels, or give them notice of the holy
-mysteries&mdash;each time 300 years’ indulgence. To him who, by industry,
-converted any one of these, or brought him to the bosom of the
-Church&mdash;full indulgence for all sins.” A number of minor indulgences
-were conceded for services to be rendered to the Pontificate, and for
-the praying so many Pater Nosters and Ave Marias. This Bull was dated in
-Rome the 28th of July, 1591.</p>
-
-<p>Popes Gregory XIV. and Innocent IX. granted other Bulls relating to the
-rewards for using beads, medals, crosses, pictures, blessed images,
-etc., with which one could gain nine plenary indulgences every day or
-rescue nine souls from purgatory; and each day, twice over, all the full
-indulgences yet given in and out of Rome could be obtained for living
-and deceased persons.</p>
-
-<p>Sanchez returned to Spain (where he died), bringing with him the body of
-Saint Policarp, a relic of Saint Potenciana, and one hundred and
-fifty-seven martyrs;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span> among them, twenty-seven popes, for remission to
-the Cathedral of Manila.</p>
-
-<p>The supreme court was re-established with the same faculties as those of
-Mexico and Lima in 1598, and since then, on seven occasions, when the
-governorship has been vacant, it has acted pro tem. The following
-interesting account of the pompous ceremonial attending the reception of
-the Royal Seal, restoring this court, is given by Concepcion.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> He
-says: “The Royal Seal of office was received from the ship with the
-accustomed solemnity. It was contained in a chest covered with purple
-velvet and trimmings of silver and gold, over which hung a cloth of
-purple and gold. It was escorted by a majestic accompaniment, marching
-to the sounds of clarions and cymbals and other musical instruments. The
-cortege passed through the noble city with rich vestments and leg
-trimmings and uncovered heads. Behind these followed a horse, gorgeously
-caparisoned and girthed, for the president to place the coffer
-containing the Royal Seal upon its back. The streets were beautifully
-adorned with exquisite drapery. The high bailiff, magnificently robed,
-took the reins in hand to lead the horse under a purple velvet pall
-bordered with gold. The magistrates walked on either side; the aldermen
-of the city, richly clad, carried their staves of office in the august
-procession, which concluded with a military escort, standard-bearers,
-etc., and proceeded to the Cathedral, where it was met by the dean,
-holding a Cross. As the company entered the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> sacred edifice, the Te Deum
-was intoned by a band of music.”</p>
-
-<p>In 1886 a supreme court, exactly similar to, and independent of, that of
-Manila, was established in the city of Cebu. The question of precedence
-in official acts having been soon after disputed between the president
-of the court and the brigadier-governor of Visayas, it was decided in
-favor of the latter, on appeal to the governor-general. In the meantime,
-the advisability of abolishing the supreme court of Cebu was debated by
-the public.</p>
-
-<p>Consequent on the union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain (1581 to
-1640), the feuds, as between nations, diplomatically subsided, although
-the individual antagonism was as rife as ever.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish and Portuguese interests in the Moluccas, as elsewhere, were
-thenceforth officially mutual. In the Moluccas group, the old contests
-between the then rival kingdoms had estranged the natives from their
-forced alliances. Anti-Portuguese and Philo-Portuguese parties had
-sprung up among the petty sovereignties, but the Portuguese fort and
-factory established in Ternate Island were held for many years, despite
-all contentions. But another rivalry, as formidable and more detrimental
-than that of the Portuguese in days gone by, now menaced Spanish
-ascendency.</p>
-
-<p>From the close of the sixteenth century up to the year of the “Family
-Compact” wars (1763), Holland and Spain were relentless foes. To recount
-the numerous combats between their respective fleets during this period
-would itself require a volume. It will suffice here to show the bearing
-of these political conflicts upon the concerns of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> the Philippine
-colony. The Treaty of Antwerp, which was wrung from the Spaniards in
-1609, twenty-eight years after the union of Spain and Portugal, broke
-the scourge of their tyranny, while it failed to assuage the mutual
-antipathy. One of the consequences of the “Wars of the Flanders,” which
-terminated with this treaty, was that the Dutch were obliged to seek in
-the Far East the merchandise which had hitherto been supplied to them
-from the Peninsula. The short-sighted policy of the Spaniards in closing
-to the Dutch the Portuguese markets, which were now theirs, brought upon
-themselves the destruction of the monopolies which they had gained by
-the union. The Dutch were now free, and their old tyrant’s policy
-induced them to independently establish their own trading headquarters
-in the Molucca Islands, whence they could obtain directly the produce
-forbidden to them in the home ports. Hence, from those islands, the
-ships of a powerful Netherlands Trading Company sallied forth from time
-to time to meet the Spanish galleons from Mexico with silver and
-manufactured goods.</p>
-
-<p>Previous to this, and during the Wars of the Flanders, Dutch corsairs
-hovered about the waters of the Moluccas, to take reprisals from the
-Spaniards. These encounters frequently took place at the eastern
-entrance of the San Bernadino Straits, where the Dutch were accustomed
-to hove-to in anticipation of the arrival of their prizes.</p>
-
-<p>In this manner, constantly roving about the Philippine waters, they
-enriched themselves at the expense of their detested adversary, and, in
-a small degree, avenged them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span>selves of the bloodshed and oppression
-which for over sixty years had desolated the Low Countries.</p>
-
-<p>The Philippine colony lost immense sums in the seizure of its galleons
-from Mexico, upon which it almost entirely depended for subsistence.
-Being a dependency of New Spain, its whole intercourse with the
-civilized world, its supplies of troops and European manufactured
-articles, were contingent upon the safe arrival of the galleons. Also
-the dollars with which they annually purchased cargoes from the Chinese
-for the galleons came from Mexico.</p>
-
-<p>Consequently, the Dutch usually took the aggressive in these
-sea-battles, although they were not always victorious. When there were
-no ships to meet, they bombarded the ports where others were being
-built. The Spaniards, on their part, from time to time fitted out
-vessels to run down to the Moluccas to attack the enemy in his own
-waters.</p>
-
-<p>During the governorship of Gomez Perez Dasmarinas (1590-1593), the
-native king of Siao Island&mdash;one of the Moluccas group&mdash;came to Manila to
-offer homage and vassalage to the representative of the King of Spain
-and Portugal, in return for protection against the incursions of the
-Dutch and the raids of the Ternate natives. Dasmarinas received him and
-the Spanish priests who accompanied him with affability, and, being
-satisfied with his credentials, he prepared a large expedition to go to
-the Moluccas to set matters in order. The fleet was composed of several
-frigates, one ship, six galleys and one hundred small vessels, all well
-armed. The fighting men numbered one hundred Spaniards, four hundred
-Pampanga<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span> and Tagalog arquebusiers, one thousand Visayas archers and
-lancers, besides one hundred Chinese to row the galleys. This
-expedition, which was calculated to be amply sufficient to subdue all
-the Moluccas, sailed from Cavite on the 6th of October, 1593. The
-sailing ships having got far ahead of the galleys, they hove-to off
-Punta de Azufre (N. of Maricaban Island) to wait for them. The galleys
-arrived; and the next day they were able to start again in company.
-Meanwhile a conspiracy was formed by the Chinese galleymen to murder all
-the Spaniards. Assuming these Chinese to be volunteers, their action
-would appear most wanton and base. If, however, as is most probable,
-they were pressed into this military service to foreigners, it seems
-quite natural that, being forced to bloodshed without alternative, they
-should first fight for their own liberty.</p>
-
-<p>All but the Chinese were asleep, and they fell upon the Spaniards in a
-body. Eighteen of the troops and four slaves escaped by jumping into the
-sea. The governor was sleeping in his cabin, but awoke on hearing the
-noise. He supposed the ship had grounded, and was coming up the
-companion en deshabille, when a Chinaman cleaved his head with a
-cutlass. The governor reached his stateroom, and taking his missal and
-the Image of the Virgin in his hand, he died in six hours. The Chinese
-did not venture below, where the priests and armed soldiers were hidden.
-They cleared the decks of all their opponents, made fast the hatches and
-gangways, and waited three days, when, after putting ashore those who
-were still alive, they escaped to Cochin-China, where the king and
-mandarins seized the vessel and all she car<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span>ried. On board were found
-twelve thousand dollars in coin, some silver, and jewels belonging to
-the governor and his suite.</p>
-
-<p>Thus the expedition was brought to an untimely end. The King of Siao,
-and the missionaries accompanying him, had started in advance for Otong
-(Panay Island) to wait for the governor, and there they received the
-news of the disaster.</p>
-
-<p>Among the most notable of the successful expeditions of the Spaniards
-was that of Pedro Bravo de Acuna, in 1606, which consisted of nineteen
-frigates, nine galleys and eight small craft, carrying a total of about
-two thousand men and provisions for a prolonged struggle. The result
-was, that they subdued a petty sultan friendly to the Dutch, and
-established a fortress on his island.</p>
-
-<p>About the year 1607, the supreme court (the governorship being vacant
-from 1606 to 1608) hearing that a Dutch vessel was hovering off Ternate,
-sent a ship against it, commanded by Pedro de Heredia. A combat ensued.
-The Dutch commander was taken prisoner with several of his men, and
-lodged in the fort at Ternate, but was ransomed on payment of fifty
-thousand dollars to the Spanish commander. Heredia returned joyfully to
-Manila, where, much to his surprise, he was prosecuted by the supreme
-court for exceeding his instructions, and expired of melancholy. The
-ransomed Dutch leader was making his way back to his headquarters in a
-small ship, peacefully, and without hostilizing the Spaniards in any
-way, when the supreme court treacherously sent a galley and a frigate
-after him to make him prisoner a second time. Overwhelmed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">{293}</a></span> numbers
-and arms, and little expecting such perfidious conduct of the Spaniards,
-he was at once arrested and brought to Manila. The Dutch returned
-twenty-two Spanish prisoners of war to Manila to ransom him; but while
-these were retained, the Dutch commander was, nevertheless, imprisoned
-for life.</p>
-
-<p>Some years afterward, a Dutch squadron anchored off the south point of
-Bataan Province, not far from Punta Marivelez, at the entrance to Manila
-Bay. Juan de Silva, the governor (from 1609 to 1616), was in great
-straits. Several ships had been lost by storms, others were away, and
-there was no adequate floating armament with which to meet the enemy.
-However, the Dutch lay-to for five or six months, waiting to seize the
-Chinese and Japanese traders’ goods on their way to the Manila market.
-They secured immense booty, and were in no hurry to open hostilities.
-This delay gave Silva time to prepare vessels to attack the foe. In the
-interval, he dreamed that Saint Mark had offered to help him defeat the
-Dutch. On awaking, he called a priest, whom he consulted about the
-dream, and they agreed that the nocturnal vision was a sign from Heaven
-denoting a victory. The priest went (from Cavite) to Manila to procure a
-relic of this glorious intercessor, and returned with his portrait to
-the governor, who adored it. In haste the ships and armament were
-prepared. On Saint Mark’s day, therefore, the Spaniards sallied forth
-from Cavite with six ships, carrying seventy guns, and two galleys and
-two launches also well armed, besides a number of small light vessels,
-to assist in the formation of line of battle.</p>
-
-<p>All the European fighting men in Manila and Cavite<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">{294}</a></span> embarked&mdash;over one
-thousand Spaniards&mdash;the flower of the colony, together with a large
-force of natives, who were taught to believe that the Dutch were
-infidels. On the issue of this day’s events perchance depended the
-possession of the colony. Manila and Cavite were garrisoned by
-volunteers. Orations were offered in the churches. The Miraculous Image
-of Our Lady of the Guide was taken in procession from the Hermit, and
-exposed to public view in the Cathedral. The saints of the different
-churches and sanctuaries were adored and exhibited daily. The governor
-himself took the supreme command, and dispelled all wavering doubt in
-his subordinates by proclaiming Saint Mark’s promise of intercession. On
-his ship he hoisted the royal standard, on which was embroidered the
-Image of the Holy Virgin, with the motto: “Mostrate esse Matrem,” and
-over a beautifully calm sea he led the way to battle.</p>
-
-<p>A shot from the Spanish heavy artillery opened the bloody combat. The
-Dutch were completely vanquished, after a fierce struggle which lasted
-six hours. Their three ships were destroyed, and their flags, artillery,
-and plundered merchandise to the value of three hundred thousand dollars
-were seized. This famous engagement was thenceforth known as the battle
-of Playa Honda.</p>
-
-<p>Again in 1611, under Silva, a squadron sailed to the Moluccas and
-defeated the Dutch off Giolo Island.</p>
-
-<p>In 1617, the Spaniards had a successful engagement off the Zambales
-coast with the Dutch, who lost three of their ships.</p>
-
-<p>In July, 1620, three Mexican galleons were met by three Dutch vessels
-off Cape Espiritu Santo (Samar Isl<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">{295}</a></span>and), at the entrance of the San
-Bernadino Straits, but managed to escape in the dark. Two ran ashore and
-broke up; the third reached Manila. After this the governor-general,
-Alonzo Fajardo de Tua, ordered the course of the State ships to be
-varied on each voyage.</p>
-
-<p>In 1625, the Dutch again appeared off the Zambales coast, and Geronimo
-de Silva went out against them. The Spaniards, having lost one man,
-relinquished the pursuit of the enemy, and the commander was brought to
-trial by the supreme court.</p>
-
-<p>In 1626, at the close of the governorship of Fernando de Silva, a
-Spanish colony was founded on Formosa Island, but no supplies were sent
-to it, and consequently in 1642 it surrendered to the Dutch, who held it
-for twenty years, until they were driven out by the Chinese adventurer
-Keuseng. And thus for over a century and a half the strife continued,
-until the Dutch concentrated their attention in the development of their
-Eastern colonies, which the power of Spain, growing more and more
-effete, was incompetent to impede.</p>
-
-<p>In 1761, King George III. had just succeeded to the throne of England,
-and the protracted contentions with France had been suspended for a
-while. It was soon evident, however, that efforts were being employed to
-extinguish the power and prestige of Great Britain, and with this object
-a convention had been entered into between France and Spain known as the
-“Family Compact.” It was so called because it was an alliance made by
-the three branches of the House of Bourbon; namely, Louis XV. of France,
-Charles III. of Spain, and his son Ferdinand, who, in accordance with
-the Treaty of Vienna, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">{296}</a></span> ascended the throne of Naples. Spain engaged
-to unite her forces with those of France against England on the 1st of
-May, 1762, if the war still lasted, in which case France would restore
-Minorca to Spain. Pitt was convinced of the necessity of meeting the
-coalition by force of arms, but he was unable to secure the support of
-his Ministry to declare war, and he therefore retired from the
-premiership. The succeeding Cabinet was, nevertheless, compelled to
-adopt his policy, and, after having lost many advantages by delaying
-their decision, war was declared against France and Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The British were successful everywhere. In the West Indies, the
-Caribbean Islands and Havana were captured, with great booty, by Rodney
-and Monckton, while a British fleet was dispatched to the Philippine
-Islands with orders to take Manila.</p>
-
-<p>There are many versions of this event given by different historians, and
-among them there is not wanting an author who, following the Spanish
-custom, has accounted for defeat by alleging treason.</p>
-
-<p>On the 14th of September, 1762, a British vessel arrived in the Bay of
-Manila, refused to admit Spanish officers on board, and after taking
-soundings she sailed again out of the harbor.</p>
-
-<p>In the evening of the 22d of September, the British squadron, composed
-of thirteen ships, under the command of Admiral Cornish, entered the
-bay, and the next day two British officers were deputed to demand the
-surrender of the citadel, which was refused.</p>
-
-<p>Brigadier-general Draper thereupon disembarked his troops, and again
-called upon the city to yield. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">{297}</a></span> citation being defied, the
-bombardment commenced the next day. The fleet anchored in front of a
-powder-magazine, took possession of the churches of Malate, Hermita, San
-Juan de Bagumbayan and Santiago. Two picket guards made an unsuccessful
-sortie against them. The whole force in Manila at the time was the
-king’s regiment, which mustered about six hundred men, and eighty pieces
-of artillery. The British forces consisted of one thousand five hundred
-European troops (one regiment of infantry and two companies of
-artillery), three thousand seamen, eight hundred Sepoy fusileers and one
-thousand four hundred Sepoy pioneers, making a total of six thousand
-eight hundred and thirty men.</p>
-
-<p>There was no governor-general here at the time, and the only person with
-whom the British commander could treat was the acting-governor, the
-Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo, who was willing to yield. His authority
-was, however, set aside by a rebellious war party, who placed themselves
-under the leadership of a magistrate of the supreme court named Simon de
-Anda y Salazar. This individual, instead of leading them to battle, fled
-to the province of Bulacan, the day before the capture of Manila, in a
-prahu with a few natives, carrying with him some money and half a ream
-of official stamped paper. He knew perfectly well that he was defying
-the legal authority of the acting-governor, and was, in fact, in open
-rebellion against his mandate. It was necessary, therefore, to give an
-official color to his acts by issuing his orders and proclamations on
-government-stamped paper, so that their validity might be recognized if
-he subsequently succeeded in justifying his action at court.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">{298}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On the 24th of September the Spanish batteries of San Diego and San
-Andres opened fire, but with little effect. A richly laden galleon&mdash;the
-“Philipino”&mdash;was known to be on her way from Mexico to Manila, but the
-British ships which were sent in quest of her fell in with another
-galleon&mdash;the “Trinidad”&mdash;and brought their prize to Manila. Her treasure
-amounted to about two million five hundred thousand dollars.</p>
-
-<p>A Frenchman resident in Manila, Monsieur Faller, made an attack on the
-British, who forced him to retire, and he was then accused by the
-Spaniards of treason. Artillery fire was kept up on both sides. The
-archbishop’s nephew was taken prisoner, and an officer was sent with him
-to hand him over to his uncle. However, a party of natives fell upon
-them and murdered them all. The officer’s head having been cut off, it
-was demanded by General Draper. Excuses were made for not giving it up,
-and the general determined thenceforth to continue the warfare with
-vigor and punish this atrocity. The artillery was increased by another
-battery of three mortars, placed behind the Church of Santiago, and the
-bombardment continued.</p>
-
-<p>Five thousand native recruits arrived from the provinces, and out of
-this number two thousand Pampangos were selected. They were divided into
-three columns, in order to advance by different routes and attack
-respectively the Church of Santiago, Malate and Hermita, and the troops
-on the beach. At each place they were driven back. The leader of the
-attack on Malate and Hermita&mdash;Don Santiago Orendain&mdash;was declared a
-traitor. The first two columns were dispersed with great confu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">{299}</a></span>sion and
-loss. The third column retreated before they had sustained or inflicted
-any loss. The natives fled to their villages in dismay, and on the 5th
-of October the British entered the walled city. After a couple of hours’
-bombardment the forts of San Andres and San Eugenio were demolished, the
-artillery overturned, and the enemy’s fusileers and sappers were killed.</p>
-
-<p>A council of war was now held by the Spaniards. General Draper sustained
-the authority of the archbishop against the war-party, composed chiefly
-of civilians, who determined to continue the defense in spite of the
-opinion of the military men, who argued that a capitulation was
-inevitable. But matters were brought to a crisis by the natives, who
-refused to repair the fortifications, and the Europeans were unable to
-perform such hard labor. Great confusion reigned in the city&mdash;the clergy
-fled through the Puerto del Parian, where there was still a native
-guard. According to Zuniga, the British spent twenty thousand cannon
-balls and five thousand shells in the bombardment of the city.</p>
-
-<p>Major Fell entered the city at the head of his troops and General Draper
-followed, leading his column unopposed, with two field pieces in the
-van, while a constant musketry fire cleared the Calle Real as they
-advanced. The people fled before the enemy. The gates being closed, they
-scrambled up the walls and got into boats or swam off.</p>
-
-<p>Colonel Monson was sent by Draper to the archbishop-governor to say that
-he expected immediate surrender. This was disputed by the archbishop,
-who presented a paper purporting to be terms of capitulation. The
-colonel<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">{300}</a></span> refused to take it, and demanded an unconditional surrender.
-Then the archbishop, a colonel of the Spanish troops and Colonel Monson
-went to interview the general, whose quarters were in the palace. The
-archbishop, offering himself as a prisoner, presented the terms of
-capitulation, which provided for the free exercise of their religion;
-security of private property; free trade to all the inhabitants of the
-islands, and the continuation of the powers of the supreme court to keep
-order among the ill-disposed. These terms were granted, but General
-Draper, on his part, stipulated for an indemnity of four millions of
-dollars, and it was agreed to pay one-half of this sum in specie and
-valuables and the other half in treasury bills on Madrid. The
-capitulation, with these modifications, was signed by Draper and the
-archbishop-governor. The Spanish colonel took the document to the fort
-to have it countersigned by the magistrates, which was at once done; the
-fort was delivered up to the British, and the magistrates retired to the
-palace to pay their respects to the conqueror.</p>
-
-<p>When the British flag was seen floating from the fort of Santiago there
-was great cheering from the British fleet. The archbishop stated that
-when Draper reviewed the troops more than one thousand men were missing,
-including sixteen officers. Among these officers were a major, fatally
-wounded by an arrow on the first day of the assault, and the
-vice-admiral, who was drowned while coming ashore in a boat.</p>
-
-<p>The natives who had been brought from the provinces to Manila were
-plundering and committing excesses in the city, so Draper had them all
-driven out. Guards were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">{301}</a></span> placed at the doors of the nunneries and
-convents to prevent outrages on the women, and then the city was given
-up to the victorious troops for pillage during three hours. Zuniga,
-however, remarks that the European troops were moderate, but that the
-Indian contingents were insatiable. They are said to have committed many
-atrocities, and, reveling in bloodshed, even murdered the inhabitants.
-They ransacked the suburbs of Santa Cruz and Binondo, and, acting like
-savage victorious tribes, they ravished women, and even went into the
-highways to murder and rob those who fled. The three hours expired, and
-the following day a similar scene was permitted. The archbishop
-thereupon besought the general to put a stop to it, and have compassion
-on the city. The general complied with this request, and restored order
-under pain of death for disobedience&mdash;some Chinese were in consequence
-hanged. General Draper himself killed one whom he found in the act of
-stealing, and he ordered that all church property should be restored,
-but only some priests’ vestments were recovered.</p>
-
-<p>Draper demanded the surrender of Cavite, which was agreed to by the
-archbishop and magistrates, but the commanding officer refused to
-comply. The major of that garrison was sent with a message to the
-commander, but on the way he talked with such freedom about the
-surrender to the British, that the natives quitted their posts and
-plundered the arsenal. The commander, rather than face humiliation,
-retired to a ship, and left all further responsibility to the major.</p>
-
-<p>Measures were now taken to pay the agreed indemnity. Heavy contributions
-were levied upon the inhabi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">{302}</a></span>tants, which, however, together with the
-silver from the pious establishments, church ornaments, plate, the
-archbishop’s rings and breast-cross, only amounted to five hundred and
-forty-six thousand dollars. The British then proposed to accept one
-million at once and draw the rest from the cargo of the galleon
-“Philipino,” if it resulted that she had not been seized by the British
-previous to the day the capitulation was signed&mdash;but the one million was
-not forthcoming. The day before the capture of Manila, a royal messenger
-had been sent off with one hundred and eleven thousand dollars, with
-orders to secure it in some place in the Laguna de Bay. The archbishop
-now ordered its return to Manila, and issued a requisition to that
-effect; but the Franciscan friars were insubordinate, and armed the
-natives, whom they virtually ruled, and the treasure was secreted in
-Majayjay Convent. Thence, on receipt of the archbishop’s message, it was
-carried across country to a place in North Pampanga, bordering on
-Cagayan and Pangasinan. The British, convinced that they were being
-duped, insisted on their claim. Thomas Backhouse, commanding the troops
-stationed at Pasig, went up to the Laguna de Bay with eighty mixed
-troops, to intercept the bringing of the “Philipino” treasure. He
-attacked Tunasan, Vinan and Santa Rosa, and embarked for Pagsanjan,
-which was then the capital of the Lake Province. The inhabitants, after
-firing the convent and church, fled. Backhouse returned to Calamba,
-entered the Province of Batangas, overran it, and made several Austin
-friars prisoners. In Lipa he seized three thousand dollars, and there he
-established his quarters, expecting that the “Philipino” treasure would
-be carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">{303}</a></span> that way; but on learning that it had been transported by
-sea to a Pampanga coast town, Backhouse withdrew to Pasig.</p>
-
-<p>In the capitulation, the whole of the Archipelago was surrendered to the
-British, but Simon de Anda determined to appeal to arms. Draper used
-stratagem, and issued a proclamation commiserating the fate of the
-natives who paid tribute to Spaniards, and assuring them that the King
-of England would not exact it. The archbishop, as governor, became
-Draper’s tool, sent messages to the Spanish families persuading them to
-return, and appointed an Englishman, married in the country, to be
-alderman of Tondo. Despite the strenuous opposition of the supreme
-court, the archbishop, at the instance of Draper, convened a council of
-native headmen and representative families, and proposed to them the
-cession of all the islands to the King of England. Draper clearly saw
-that the ruling powers in the colony, judging from their energy and
-effective measures, were the friars, so he treated them with great
-respect. The Frenchman Faller, who unsuccessfully opposed the British
-assault, was offered troops to go and take possession of Zamboanga and
-accept the government there, but he refused, as did also a Spaniard
-named Sandoval.</p>
-
-<p>Draper returned to Europe; Major Fell was left in command of the troops,
-while Drake assumed the military government of the city, with Smith and
-Brock as council, and Brereton in charge of Cavite. Draper, on leaving,
-gave orders for two frigates to go in search of the “Philipino”
-treasure. The ships got as far as Capul Island and put into harbor. They
-were detained there by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">{304}</a></span> a ruse on the part of a half-caste pilot, and
-the treasure was got away in the meantime.</p>
-
-<p>Simon de Anda, from his provincial retreat, proclaimed himself
-governor-general. He declared that the archbishop and the magistrates,
-as prisoners of war, were dead in the eye of the law; and that his
-assumption of authority was based upon old laws. None of his countrymen
-disputed his authority, and he established himself in Bacolor. The
-British council then convened a meeting of the chief inhabitants, at
-which Anda was declared a seditious person and deserving of capital
-punishment, together with the Marquis of Monte Castro, who had violated
-his parole d’honneur, and the provincial of the Austin friars, who had
-joined the rebel party. All the Austin friars were declared traitors for
-having broken their allegiance to the archbishop’s authority. The
-British still pressed for the payment of the one million, while the
-Spaniards declared they possessed no more. The Austin friars were
-ordered to keep the natives peaceable if they did not wish to provoke
-hostilities against themselves. At length, the British, convinced of the
-futility of decrees, determined to sally out with their forces; and five
-hundred men under Thomas Backhouse went up the Pasig River to secure a
-free passage for supplies to the camp. While opposite Maybonga, Bustos,
-with his Cagayan troops, fired on them. The British returned the fire,
-and Bustos fled to Mariquina. The British passed the river, and sent an
-officer with a white flag of truce to summon surrender. Bustos was
-insolent, and threatened to hang the officer if he returned. Backhouse’s
-troops then opened fire and placed two field pieces which completely
-scared the na<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">{305}</a></span>tives, who fled in such great confusion that many were
-drowned in the river. Thence the British pursued their enemy “as if they
-were a flock of goats,” and reached the Bamban River, where the Sultan
-of Sulu resided with his family. The sultan, after a feigned resistance,
-fell a prisoner to the British, who fortified his dwelling, and occupied
-it during the whole of the operations. There were subsequent skirmishes
-on the Pasig River banks with the armed insurgents, who were driven as
-far as the Antipolo Mountains.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Anda collected troops; and Bustos, as his lieutenant-general,
-vaunted the power of his chief through the Bulacan and Pampanga
-provinces. A Franciscan and an Austin friar, having led troops to
-Masilo, about seven miles from Manila, the British went out to dislodge
-them, but on their approach most of the natives feigned they were dead,
-and the British returned without any loss in arms or men.</p>
-
-<p>The British, believing that the Austin friars were conspiring against
-them in connivance with those inside the city, placed these friars in
-confinement, and subsequently shipped away eleven of them to Europe. For
-the same reason, they at last determined to enter the St. Augustine
-Convent, and on ransacking it they found that the priests had been lying
-to them all the time. Six thousand dollars in coin were found hidden in
-the garden, and large quantities of wrought silver elsewhere. The whole
-premises were then searched and all the valuables were seized. A British
-expedition went out to Bulacan, sailing across the bay and up the
-Hagonoy River, where they disembarked at Malolos on the 19th of January,
-1763. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">{306}</a></span> troops, under Captain Eslay, of the Grenadiers, numbered six
-hundred men, many of whom were Chinese volunteers. As they advanced from
-Malolos, the natives and Spaniards fled. On the way to Bulacan, Bustos
-advanced to meet them, but retreated into ambush on seeing they were
-superior in numbers. Bulacan Convent was fortified with three small
-cannon. As soon as the troops were in sight of the convent, a desultory
-fire of case-shot made great havoc in the ranks of the Chinese forming
-the British vanguard. At length the British brought their field pieces
-into action, and pointing at the enemy’s cannon, the first discharge
-carried off the head of their artilleryman Ybarra. The panic-stricken
-natives decamped; the convent was taken by assault; there was an
-indiscriminate fight and general slaughter. The alcalde and a Franciscan
-friar fell in action; one Austin friar escaped, and another was seized
-and killed to avenge the death of the British soldiers. The invading
-forces occupied the convent, and some of the troops were shortly sent
-back to Manila. Bustos reappeared near the Bulacan convent with eight
-thousand native troops, of which six hundred were cavalry, but they
-dared not attack the British. Bustos then maneuvered in the neighborhood
-and made occasional alarms. Small parties were sent out against him with
-so little effect that the British commander headed a body in person, and
-put the whole of Bustos’ troops to flight like mosquitoes before a gust
-of wind, for Bustos feared they would be pursued into Pampanga. After
-clearing away the underwood, which served as a covert for the natives,
-the British reoccupied the convent; but Bustos returned to his position,
-and was a second time<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">{307}</a></span> as disgracefully routed by the British, who then
-withdrew to Manila.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, it was alleged that a conspiracy was being organized
-among the Chinese in the Province of Pampanga with the object of
-assassinating Anda and his Spanish followers. The Chinese cut trenches
-and raised fortifications, avowing that their bellicose preparations
-were only to defend themselves against the possible attack of the
-British; while the Spaniards saw in all this a connivance with the
-invaders. The latter, no doubt, conjectured rightly. Anda, acting upon
-the views of his party, precipitated matters by appearing with fourteen
-Spanish soldiers and a crowd of native bowmen to commence the slaughter
-in the town of Guagua. The Chinese assembled there in great numbers, and
-Anda endeavored in vain to induce them to surrender to him. He then sent
-a Spaniard, named Miguel Garces, with a message, offering them pardon in
-the name of the King of Spain if they would lay down their arms; but
-they killed the emissary, and Anda therefore commenced the attack. The
-result was favorable for Anda’s party, and great numbers of the Chinese
-were slain. Many fled to the fields, where they were pursued by the
-troops, while those who were captured were hanged. Such was the
-inveterate hatred which Anda entertained for the Chinese, that he issued
-a general decree declaring all the Chinese traitors to the Spanish flag,
-and ordered them to be hanged wherever they might be found in the
-provinces. Thus thousands of Chinese were executed who had taken no part
-whatever in the events of this little war.</p>
-
-<p>Admiral Cornish, having decided to return to Europe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">{308}</a></span> again urged for
-the payment of the two millions of dollars. The archbishop was in great
-straits; he was willing to do anything, but his colleagues opposed him,
-and Cornish was at length obliged to content himself with a bill on the
-Madrid treasury. Anda appointed Bustos alcalde of Bulacan, and ordered
-him to recruit and train troops, as he still nurtured the hope of
-confining the British to Manila&mdash;perhaps even of driving them out of the
-colony.</p>
-
-<p>The British in the city were compelled to adopt the most rigorous
-precautions against a rising of the population within the walls, and
-several Spanish residents were arrested for intriguing against them in
-concert with those outside.</p>
-
-<p>Several French prisoners from Pondicherry deserted from the British; and
-some Spanish regular troops, who had been taken prisoners, effected
-their escape. The fiscal of the supreme court and a Senor Villa Corta
-were found conspiring. The latter was caught in the act of sending a
-letter to Anda, and was sentenced to be hanged and quartered&mdash;the
-quarters to be exhibited in public places. The archbishop, however,
-obtained Villa Corta’s pardon, on the condition that Anda should
-evacuate the Pampanga Province; and Villa Corta wrote to Anda, begging
-him to accede to this, but Anda absolutely refused to make any sacrifice
-to save his friend’s life; and at the same time he wrote a disgraceful
-letter to the archbishop, couched in such insulting terms that the
-British commander burned it without letting the archbishop see it. Villa
-Corta was finally ransomed by the payment of three thousand dollars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">{309}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The treasure brought by the “Philipino” served Anda to organize a
-respectable force of recruits. Spaniards who were living there in
-misery, and a crowd of natives always ready for pay, enlisted. These
-forces, under Lieutenant-general Bustos, encamped at Malinta, about five
-miles from Manila. The officers lodged in a house belonging to the
-Austin friars, around which the troops pitched their tents&mdash;the whole
-being defended by redoubts and palisades raised under the direction of a
-French deserter, who led a company. From this place Bustos constantly
-caused alarm to the British troops, who once had to retreat before a
-picket guard sent to get the church bells of Quiapo. The British, in
-fact, were much molested by Bustos’ Malinta troops, who forced the
-invaders to withdraw to Manila and reduce the extension of their
-outposts. This measure was followed up by a proclamation, in which the
-British commander alluded to Bustos’ troops as “canaille and robbers,”
-and offered a reward of five thousand dollars for Anda’s head; declaring
-him and his party rebels and traitors to their majesties the kings of
-Spain and England. Anda, chafing at his impotence to combat the invading
-party by force of arms, gave vent to his feelings of rage and
-disappointment by issuing a decree, dated from Bacolor the 19th of May,
-1763, of which the translated text reads as follows:</p>
-
-<p>“Royal Government Tribunal of these Islands for His Catholic Majesty:
-Whereas the Royal Government Tribunal, Supreme Government and
-Captain-Generalship of His Catholic Majesty in these Islands are gravely
-offended at the audacity and blindness of those men, who, forgetting all
-humanity, have condemned as rebellious and dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">{310}</a></span>obedient to both their
-Majesties, him, who as a faithful vassal of His Catholic Majesty, and in
-conformity with the law, holds the Royal Tribunal, Government and
-Captain-Generalship; and having suffered by a reward being offered by
-order of the British Governor in council to whomsoever shall deliver me
-alive or dead; and by their having placed the arms captured in Bulacan
-at the foot of the gallows&mdash;seeing that instead of their punishing and
-reproaching such execrable proceedings, the spirit of haughtiness and
-pride is increasing, as shown in the Proclamation published in Manila on
-the 17th instant, in which the troops of His Majesty are infamously
-calumniated&mdash;treating them as blackguards and disaffected to their
-service&mdash;charging them with plotting to assassinate the English officers
-and soldiers, and with having fled when attacked&mdash;the whole of these
-accusations being false: Now therefore by these presents, be it known to
-all Spaniards and true Englishmen that Messrs. Drake, Smith and Brock,
-who signed the Proclamation referred to, must not be considered as
-vassals of His Britannic Majesty, but as tyrants and common enemies
-unworthy of human society, and therefore, I order that they be
-apprehended as such, and I offer ten thousand dollars for each one of
-them alive or dead. At the same time, I withdraw the order to treat the
-vassals of his Britannic Majesty with all the humanity which the rights
-of war will permit, as has been practiced hitherto with respect to the
-prisoners and deserters.”</p>
-
-<p>Anda had by this time received the consent of his king to occupy the
-position which he had usurped, and the British commander was thus
-enabled to communicate officially<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">{311}</a></span> with, him, if occasion required it;
-and Drake replied to this proclamation, recommending Anda to carry on
-the war with greater moderation and humanity.</p>
-
-<p>On the 27th of June, 1763, the British made a sortie from the city to
-dislodge Bustos, who still occupied Malinta. The attacking party
-consisted of three hundred and fifty fusileers, fifty horsemen, a mob of
-Chinese, and a number of guns and ammunition. The British took up
-quarters on one side of the river, while Bustos remained on the other.
-The opposing parties exchanged fire, but neither cared nor dared to
-cross the waterway. The British forces retired in good order to Masilo,
-and remained there until they heard that Bustos had burned Malinta House
-and removed his camp to Meycauayan. Then the British withdrew to Manila
-in the evening. On the Spanish side there were two killed, five mortally
-wounded and two slightly wounded. The British losses were six mortally
-wounded and seven disabled. This was the last encounter in open warfare.
-Chinamen occasionally lost their lives through their love of plunder in
-the vicinity occupied by the British.</p>
-
-<p>During these operations, the priesthood taught the ignorant natives to
-believe that the invading troops were infidels&mdash;and a holy war was
-preached.</p>
-
-<p>The friars, especially those of the Augustine order,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> abandoned their
-mission of peace for that of the sword, and the British met with a
-slight reverse at Masilo, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">{312}</a></span> a religious fanatic of the Austin
-friars had put himself at the head of a small hand lying in ambush.</p>
-
-<p>On the 23d of July, 1763, a British frigate brought news from Europe of
-an armistice&mdash;and the preliminaries of peace, by virtue of which Manila
-was to be evacuated (Peace of Paris, 10th of February, 1763), were
-received by the British commander on the 27th of August following, and
-communicated by him to the archbishop-governor for the
-“commander-in-chief” of the Spanish arms. Anda stood on his dignity and
-protested that he should be addressed directly, and be styled
-captain-general. On this plea he declined to receive the communication.
-Drake replied by a manifesto, dated 19th of September, to the effect
-that the responsibility of the blood which might be spilled, in
-consequence of Anda’s refusal to accept his notification, would rest
-with him. Anda published a counter manifesto, dated 28th of September,
-in Bacolor (Pampanga), protesting that he had not been treated with
-proper courtesy.</p>
-
-<p>Greater latitude was allowed to the prisoners, and Villa Corta effected
-his escape dressed as a woman. He fled to Anda&mdash;the co-conspirator who
-had refused to save his life&mdash;and their superficial friendship was
-renewed. Villa Corta was left in charge of business in Bacolor during
-Anda’s temporary absence. Meanwhile the archbishop fell ill; and it was
-discussed who should be his successor in the government in the event of
-his death. Villa Corta argued that it fell to him as senior magistrate.
-The discussion came to the knowledge of Anda, and seriously aroused his
-jealousy. Fearing conspiracy against his ambitious projects, he left his
-camp at Polo, and hastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">{313}</a></span> to interrogate Villa Corta, who explained
-that he had only made casual remarks in the course of conversation.
-Anda, however, was restless on the subject of the succession, and sought
-the opinion of all the chief priests and bishops. Various opinions
-existed. Some urged that the decision be left to the supreme
-court&mdash;others were in favor of Anda&mdash;while many abstained from
-expressing their views. Anda was so nervously anxious about the matter,
-that he even begged the opinion of the British commander, and wrote him
-on the subject from Bacolor on the 2d of November, 1763.</p>
-
-<p>Major Fell seriously quarreled with Drake about the Frenchman Faller,
-whom Admiral Cornish had left under sentence of death for having written
-a letter to Java accusing him of being a pirate and a robber. Drake
-protected Faller, while Fell demanded the execution of the prisoner; and
-the dispute became so heated that Fell was about to slay Drake with a
-bayonet, but was prevented by some soldiers. Fell then went to London to
-complain of Drake, hence Anda’s letter was addressed to Backhouse, who
-took Fell’s place. Anda, who months since had refused to negotiate or
-treat with Drake, still insisted upon being styled captain-general.
-Backhouse replied that he was ignorant of the Spaniards’ statutes or
-laws, but that he knew the governor was the archbishop. Anda thereupon
-spread the report that the British commander had forged the
-preliminaries of peace because he could no longer hold out in warfare.
-The British necessarily had to send to the provinces to purchase
-provisions, and Anda caused their forage parties to be attacked, so that
-the war really continued, in spite<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">{314}</a></span> of the news of peace, until the 30th
-of January, 1764. On this day the archbishop died, sorely grieved at the
-situation, and weighed down with cares. He had engaged to pay four
-millions of dollars and surrender the islands, but could he indeed have
-refused any terms? The British were in possession; and these conditions
-were dictated at the point of the bayonet.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after the funeral of the archbishop, Anda received
-dispatches from the King of Spain, by way of China, confirming the news
-of peace to his governor at Manila. Then the British acknowledged Anda
-as governor, and proceeded to evacuate the city; but rival factions were
-not so easily set aside, and fierce quarrels ensued between the
-respective parties of Anda, Villa Corta and Ustariz, as to who should be
-governor and receive the city officially from the British. Anda, being
-actually in command of the troops, had the game in his hands. The
-conflict was happily terminated by the arrival at Marinduque of the
-newly appointed governor-general from Spain&mdash;Don Francisco de la Torre.
-A galley was sent there by Anda to bring his excellency to Luzon, and he
-arrived at Bacolor, where Anda resigned the government to him on the
-17th of March, 1764.</p>
-
-<p>La Torre sent a message to Backhouse and Brereton&mdash;the commanding
-officers at Manila and Cavite&mdash;stating that he was ready to take over
-the city in due form. La Torre thereupon took up his residence in Santa
-Cruz, placed a Spanish guard with sentinels from that ward as far as the
-Great Bridge (Puente de Barcas, now called Puente de España), where the
-British advance guard was, and friendly communication took place.
-Governor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">{315}</a></span> Drake was indignant at being ignored in all these proceedings,
-and ordered the Spanish governor to withdraw his guards, under threat of
-appealing to force. Backhouse and Brereton resented this rudeness, and
-ordered the troops under arms to arrest Drake, whose hostile action, due
-to jealousy, they declared unwarrantable. Drake, being apprised of their
-intentions, escaped from the city with his suite, embarked on board a
-frigate, and sailed off.</p>
-
-<p>La Torre was said to be indisposed on the day appointed for receiving
-the city. Some assert that he feigned his indisposition, as he did not
-wish to arouse Anda’s animosity, and desired to afford him an
-opportunity of displaying himself as a delegate at least of the highest
-local authority by receiving the city from the British, while he
-pampered his pride by allowing him to enter triumphantly into it. As the
-city exchanged masters, the Spanish flag was hoisted once more on the
-fort of Santiago amid the hurrahs of the populace and artillery salutes.</p>
-
-<p>Before embarking, Brereton offered to do justice to any claims which
-might be legitimately established against the British authorities. Hence
-a sloop loaned to Drake, valued at four thousand dollars, was paid for
-to the Jesuits, and the three thousand dollars paid to ransom Villa
-Corta’s life was returned; Brereton remarking that, if the sentence
-against him were valid, it should have been executed at the time, but it
-could not be commuted by money payment. At the instance of the British
-authorities, a free pardon was granted and published to the Chinese, few
-of whom, however, confided in it, and many left with the retiring army.
-Brereton, with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">{316}</a></span> forces, embarked for India, after dispatching a
-packet-boat to restore the Sultan of Sulu to his throne.</p>
-
-<p>During this convulsed period, great atrocities were committed.
-Unfortunately the common felons were released by the English from their
-prisons, and used their liberty to perpetrate murders and robbery in
-alliance with those always naturally bent that way. So great did this
-evil become, so bold were the marauders, that in time they formed large
-parties, infested highways, attacked plantations, and the poor peasantry
-had to flee, leaving their cattle and all their belongings in their
-power. Several avenged themselves of the friars for old scores, others
-settled accounts with those Europeans who had tyrannized them of old.
-The Chinese, whether so-called Christians or pagans, declared for and
-aided the British.</p>
-
-<p>The proceedings of the choleric Simon de Anda y Salazar were approved by
-his sovereign, but his impetuous disposition drove from him his best
-counselors, while those who were bold enough to uphold their opinions
-against his were accused of connivance with the British. Communications
-with Europe were scant indeed in those days, but Anda could not have
-been altogether ignorant of the causes of the war, which terminated with
-the Treaty of Paris.</p>
-
-<p>On his return to Spain, after the appointment of La Torre as
-governor-general, he succeeded in retaining the favor of the king, who
-conferred several honors on him, making him Councilor of Castile, etc.
-In the meantime Jose Raon, who replaced La Torre, had fallen into
-disgrace, and Anda was appointed to the governor-generalship of the
-islands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">{317}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>There is perhaps no imperiousness so intolerant as that of an official
-who vaunts his authority by the reflected light of his powerful patron.
-Anda on his arrival avenged himself of his opposers in all directions.
-He imprisoned his predecessor, several judges, military officials and
-others; some he sent back to Spain, others he banished from the capital.
-Thus he brought trouble upon himself. From all sides hostile resistance
-increased. He quarreled with the clergy; but when his irascible temper
-had exhausted itself in the course of six years, he retired to a convent
-of the Austin friars, where he expired in 1776, much to the relief of
-his numerous adversaries.</p>
-
-<p>Consequent on the troubled state of the colony, a serious rebellion
-arose in Ylogan (Cagayan Province), among the Timava natives, who
-flogged the commandant, and declared they would no longer pay tribute to
-the Spaniards. The revolt spread to Ilocos and Pangasinan, but the
-ringleaders were caught, and tranquillity was restored by the gallows.</p>
-
-<p>A rising far more important occurred in Ilocos Sur. The alcalde was
-deposed, and escaped after he had been forced to give up his staff of
-office. The leader of this revolt was a cunning and cute Manila native,
-named Diego de Silan, who persuaded the people to cease paying tribute,
-and declare against the Spaniards, who, he pointed out, were unable to
-resist the English. The city of Vigan was in great commotion. The
-vicar-general parleyed with the natives; and then, collecting his
-troops, the rebels were dispersed, while some were taken prisoners; but
-the bulk of the rioters rallied and attacked, and burned down part of
-the city. The loyal natives fled before the flames.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">{318}</a></span> The vicar-general’s
-house was taken, and the arms in it were seized. All the Austin friars
-within a large surrounding neighborhood had to ransom themselves by
-money payments. Silan was then acknowledged as chief over a large
-territory north and south of Vigan. He appointed his lieutenants, and
-issued a manifesto declaring Jesus of Nazareth to be captain-general of
-the place, and that he was his alcalde for the promotion of the Catholic
-religion and dominion of the King of Spain. His manifesto was wholly
-that of a religious fanatic. He obliged the natives to attend mass, to
-confess, and to see that their children went to school. In the midst of
-all this pretended piety, he robbed cattle and exacted ransoms for the
-lives of all those who could pay them; he levied a tax of one hundred
-dollars on each friar. Under the pretense of keeping out the British, he
-placed sentinels in all directions to prevent news reaching the terrible
-Simon de Anda. But Anda, though fully informed by an Austin friar of
-what transpired, had not sufficient troops to march north. He sent a
-requisition to Silan to present himself within nine days, under penalty
-of arrest as a traitor. While this order was published, vague reports
-were intentionally spread that the Spaniards were coming to Ilocos in
-great force. Many deserted Silan, but he contrived to deceive even the
-clergy and others by his feigned piety. Silan sent presents to Manila
-for the British, acknowledging the King of England to be his legitimate
-sovereign. The British governor sent, in return, a vessel bearing
-dispatches to Silan, appointing him alcalde mayor. Elated with pride,
-Silan at once made this public. The natives were undeceived, for they
-had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">{319}</a></span> counted on him to deliver them from the British; now, to their
-dismay, they saw him the authorized magistrate of the invader. He gave
-orders to make all the Austin friars prisoners, saying that the British
-would send other clergy in their stead. The friars surrendered
-themselves without resistance and joined their bishop near Vigan,
-awaiting the pleasure of Silan. The bishop excommunicated Silan, and
-then he released some of the priests. The Christian natives having
-refused to slay the friars, a secret compact was being made, with this
-object, with the mountain tribes, when a half-caste named Vicos obtained
-the bishop’s benediction to go and kill Silan; and the rebellion, which
-had lasted from December 14, 1762, to May 28, 1763, ended.</p>
-
-<p>Not until a score of little battles had been fought were the numerous
-riots in the provinces quelled. The loyal troops were divided into
-sections, and marched north in several directions, until peace was
-restored by March, 1765. Zuniga says that the Spaniards lost in these
-riots about seventy Europeans and one hundred and forty natives, while
-they cost the rebels quite ten thousand men.</p>
-
-<p>Space will not permit us to cite all the revolutionary protests which
-ensued. In the time of Legaspi the submission of the Manila and Tondo
-chiefs was of but local and temporary importance. Since then, and in
-fact since the very beginning up to the present time, the natives have
-only yielded to a force which they have repeatedly tried to overthrow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">{320}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">THE HISPANO-AMERICAN WAR</span></h2>
-<p class="chead2">THE “MAINE”&mdash;THE COURT OF INQUIRY&mdash;THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE&mdash;DEWEY AT
-MANILA&mdash;HOBSON AND THE “MERRIMAC”&mdash;CERVERA’S RUN TO RUIN&mdash;THE
-CAPITULATION OF SANTIAGO&mdash;THE MISSION OF PEACE</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">When</span> General Weyler assumed command in Cuba he issued, October 21, 1896,
-the following proclamation:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“I order and command:</p>
-
-<p>First&mdash;All the inhabitants of the country now outside of the line
-of fortifications of the towns shall within the period of eight
-days concentrate themselves in the towns so occupied by the troops.
-Any individual who after the expiration of this period is found in
-the uninhabited parts will be considered a rebel and tried as
-such.”</p></div>
-
-<p>At the time when the order was issued there was living within the
-western province a population of four hundred thousand men, women and
-children. The result of the order was to sweep them from their homes and
-fields and confine them in open-air prisons. No food whatever was
-supplied to them. As a result more than half of them died.</p>
-
-<p>The indignation aroused became widespread. Weyler<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">{321}</a></span> was recalled. At the
-time, especially in Havana among the officials who had been his
-adherents and who resented his recall, there was an expressed hatred of
-the United States. That hatred it is generally understood resulted, on
-the night of February 15, 1898, in the blowing up of the “Maine.”</p>
-
-<p>The dispatch of this vessel to Cuban waters was a friendly act arranged
-by our government and that of Spain as one of a series of visits to be
-paid by the ironclads of the two countries to each other’s harbors.
-While the “Viscaya” was en route for New York the “Maine” went to
-Havana. The harbor there was subsequently shown to have been sown with
-explosives.</p>
-
-<p>The findings of the Court of Inquiry, which was then held, as embodied
-in the report of the Foreign Relations Committee, set forth that the
-destruction of the “Maine” was either compassed by the official act of
-the Spanish authorities, or was made possible by negligence on their
-part so willful and gross as to be equivalent to criminal culpability.</p>
-
-<p>The line of argument is as follows: It is established that the “Maine”
-was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine in position under her
-in a Spanish harbor, at a place where she had been moored to a buoy by
-the express direction and guidance of the Spanish authorities.</p>
-
-<p>The report of the Spanish board of inquiry, which reported, after the
-most inadequate examination, that the explosion was due to the fault of
-the officers of the “Maine,” and took place within the vessel itself,
-was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">{322}</a></span> declared to be manifestly false, and calculated to induce public
-opinion to prejudge the question. Taking this together with the fact of
-the duplicity, treachery, and cruelty of the Spanish character, the
-Senate concluded that the Spanish authorities must be held responsible
-for the crime, either as its direct authors or as contributors thereto
-by willful and gross negligence.</p>
-
-<p>Spain offered to refer the question as to the cause of the loss of the
-“Maine” and their responsibility for the catastrophe to arbitration. The
-President made no reply.</p>
-
-<p>On April 11, anterior circumstances already sufficiently recited, joined
-to the findings of the American Commissioners, resulted in the President
-sending a message to Congress, in which he said:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“The long trial has proved that the object for which Spain has
-waged the war cannot be attained. The fire of insurrection may
-flame or may smolder with varying seasons, but it has not been, and
-it is plain that it cannot be, extinguished by present methods. The
-only hope of relief and repose from a condition which can no longer
-be endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba.</p>
-
-<p>“In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of
-endangered American interests which give us the right and the duty
-to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop.</p>
-
-<p>“In view of these facts and of these considerations, I ask the
-Congress to authorize and empower the President to take measures to
-secure a full and final termination of hostilities between the
-government of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure in the
-island the establishment of a stable government capable of
-maintaining order and observing its international obligations,
-insuring<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">{323}</a></span> peace and tranquillity, and the security of its citizens
-as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces of the
-United States as may be necessary for these purposes.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<i>William McKinley.</i>”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>On April 19, Congress passed the following:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Joint resolution for the recognition of the independence of the
-people of Cuba, demanding that the government of Spain
-relinquish its authority and government in the island of
-Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from
-Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of
-the United States to use the land and naval forces of the
-United States to carry these resolutions into effect.</i>
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p>“<i>Whereas</i>, The abhorrent conditions which have existed for more
-than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders,
-have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States,
-have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as
-they have, in the destruction of a United States battleship, with
-two hundred and sixty of its officers and crew, while on a friendly
-visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured, as has
-been set forth by the President of the United States in his message
-to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress
-was invited; therefore be it resolved,</p>
-
-<p>“First&mdash;That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right
-ought to be, free and independent.</p>
-
-<p>“Second&mdash;That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and
-the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the
-government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government
-in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from
-Cuba and Cuban waters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">{324}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“Third&mdash;That the President of the United States be, and he hereby
-is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces
-of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the
-United States the militia of the several States to such an extent
-as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.</p>
-
-<p>“Fourth&mdash;That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or
-intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over
-said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its
-determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and
-control of the island to its people.”</p></div>
-
-<p>The ultimatum embodied in the foregoing being rejected by Spain,
-diplomatic relations were severed and hostilities ensued.</p>
-
-<p>On May 1, at daybreak, the Asiatic squadron, commanded by Commodore
-Dewey, arrived at Manila from Hong Kong. At Cavite, within the harbor,
-protected by four batteries, lay the Spanish fleet. It was commanded by
-Admiral Patricio Montojo. The squadron proceeded up the bay unmolested
-and made for the naval station. Two mines were exploded, but
-ineffectively. At five o’clock and ten minutes the Spaniards opened
-fire. Commodore Dewey set the signals, and his entire squadron advanced
-to short range. The squadron consisted of the following cruisers and
-gunboats: “Olympia,” “Baltimore,” “Boston,” “Raleigh,” “Concord,”
-“Petrel,” and “McCulloch.”</p>
-
-<p>At 5.30 the “Olympia’s” 8-inch guns opened, and the squadron swung in
-front of the Spanish ships and forts in single file, firing their port
-guns. Then, wheeling, they passed back, firing their starboard guns.
-This maneuver<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">{325}</a></span> was repeated five times, the entire American fleet
-passing all the Spanish ships and batteries at each maneuver, and each
-time drawing in closer and closer and delivering fire at more deadly
-range. During two hours and a half there was tremendous resistance by
-the Spaniards. They had eleven ships and five land batteries in full
-play, against six American warships. But the American marksmanship was
-faultless. Every shot seemed to count against ship or shore battery,
-while most of the Spanish powder was burned in vain. At 7.45 <small>A.M.</small> the
-American fleet withdrew to ascertain damages and permit the smoke to
-clear. It was seen then that several Spanish ships were crippled or
-burning, and it was found that the American vessels had suffered hardly
-at all. Admiral Dewey called his captains into consultation and
-arrangements were made for another attack. At 10.40 the attack was
-renewed, the “Baltimore” leading. She advanced right upon the enemy,
-shelling them constantly, and the other Americans followed, working
-their guns as rapidly as they could load and fire. The effect of this
-assault was terrific. Ship after ship of the Spaniards sunk or was run
-ashore to keep them from sinking or falling into American hands. At
-12.45 <small>P.M.</small> the Spaniards struck their colors in token of surrender.
-Admiral Patricio Montojo fled to Manila, and most of the survivors fled
-with him. This ended the work of May 1.</p>
-
-<p>On May 2, Commodore Dewey landed a force of marines at Cavite. They
-completed the destruction of the Spanish fleet and batteries and
-established a guard for the protection of the Spanish hospitals. The
-resistance of the forts was weak. The “Olympia” turned a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">{326}</a></span> guns on
-the Cavite arsenal, and its magazine at once exploded, killing some and
-wounding many. This practically ended the fire from the batteries, the
-Spanish artillerists fearing to face the American gunners. “Remember the
-‘Maine’!” was the word continually passed between the ships, and every
-American officer, every “Jackie,” was eager to do his utmost.</p>
-
-<p>After Manila and the defeat of Admiral Montojo, the successive and
-concluding events of the Hispano-American war include Admiral Sampson’s
-bombardment of San Juan; Hobson’s heroic experiment with the “Merrimac”;
-General Shafter’s campaign; the destruction of Cervera’s squadron; the
-capitulation of Santiago; General Miles’s tour in Porto Rico, and the
-overtures for peace. These events may be conveniently summarized as
-follows:</p>
-
-<p>The bombardment of San Juan was the result of a reconnaissance. The
-Spanish fleet, under command of Admiral Cervera, which it was the
-purpose of the Americans to capture or destroy, subsequently sought and
-found shelter within the harbor of Santiago, the entrance to which
-Admiral Sampson then proceeded to invest. There, while waiting to engage
-the enemy, it was thought wise to attempt to block the harbor and so
-prevent a possible escape. The plan originated with Lieutenant Hobson,
-and its execution was left to him. On the night of June 3, with a picked
-crew of seven volunteers, he steamed up in the collier “Merrimac” to the
-harbor’s entrance and sank her. From the fleet the progress of the
-“Merrimac” was eagerly followed.</p>
-
-<p>At 3.15 the first Spanish shot was fired, coming from one of the guns on
-the hill to the west of the entrance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">{327}</a></span> The shot was seen to splash
-seaward from the “Merrimac,” having passed over her. The firing became
-general very soon afterward, being especially fierce and rapid from the
-batteries inside on the left of the harbor, probably from batteries on
-Smith Cay. The flashes and reports were apparently those of rapid-fire
-guns, ranging from small automatic guns to four-inch or larger. For
-fifteen minutes a perfect fusillade was kept up. Then the fire
-slackened, and by 3.30 had almost ceased. There was a little desultory
-firing until about 3.45, when all became quiet. Daylight came at about
-five o’clock.</p>
-
-<p>At about 5.15 <small>A.M.</small>, a launch, which, under Cadet Powell, had followed
-the “Merrimac,” in order if possible to rescue Hobson and his men, was
-seen steaming from west to east, near or across the mouth of the harbor.
-She steamed back from east to west and began skirting the coast to the
-west of the entrance. The battery on the hill to the left opened fire on
-her, but did not make good practice. The launch continued her course as
-far westward as a small cove and then headed for the “Texas,” steaming
-at full speed. Several shots were fired at her from the battery on the
-left as she steamed out.</p>
-
-<p>It was broad daylight by this time. Cadet Powell came alongside the
-“Texas” and reported that “No one had come out of the entrance of the
-harbor.” His words sounded like the death knell of all who had gone in
-on the “Merrimac.” It seemed incredible, almost impossible, any of them
-could have lived through the awful fire that was directed at the ship.
-Cadet Powell said that he had followed behind the ship at a distance of
-four or five hundred yards. Hobson missed the entrance of the harbor at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">{328}</a></span>
-first, having gone too far to the westward; he almost ran aground. The
-launch picked up the entrance and directed the “Merrimac” in. From the
-launch the collier was seen until she rounded the bend of the channel
-and until the helm had been put to port to swing her into position
-across the channel. There was probably no one in the fleet who did not
-think that all seven of the men had perished. In the afternoon, much to
-the surprise of every one, a tug flying a flag of truce was seen coming
-out of the entrance. The “Vixen,” flying a tablecloth at the fore, went
-to meet the tug. A Spanish officer went aboard the “Vixen” from the tug
-and was taken aboard the flagship. Not long afterward a signal was made
-that Murphy of the “Iowa” was saved and was a prisoner of war. About
-four o’clock another signal was made from the flagship: “Collier’s crew
-prisoners of war; two slightly wounded. All well.”</p>
-
-<p>It can be easily imagined what relief this signal brought to all hands,
-who had been mourning the death of all these men. The Spanish officer
-said also that the prisoners were confined in Morro Castle. He said
-further that Admiral Cervera considered the attempt to run in and sink
-the “Merrimac” across the channel an act of such great bravery and
-desperate daring that he (the Admiral) thought it very proper that our
-naval officers should be notified of the safety of these men. Whatever
-the motive for sending out the tug with the flag of truce, the act was a
-most graceful one, and one of most chivalrous courtesy. The Spanish
-officer is reported to have said: “You have made it more difficult, but
-we can still get out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">{329}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>The daring evinced by Hobson was instantly recognized, but the
-importance of his achievement was not appreciated until July 3, when
-Cervera’s desperate attempt to escape, would, in all likelihood, have
-been partly successful but for the fact that his vessels were obliged to
-leave the harbor in single file.</p>
-
-<p>Let us, however, recapitulate in their order the events which followed
-the sinking of the “Merrimac,” news whereof was received on June 4. On
-June 5, a bombardment of the Morro Castle, commanding the mouth of
-Santiago Harbor, took place, but no serious impression seems to have
-been made upon the fortress at that time, although some neighboring
-earthworks were destroyed. Two days later, there was a more effective
-bombardment of the harbor fortifications by Admiral Sampson, but the
-Morro Castle still held out and protected the entrance to the port by
-its ability to deliver a plunging fire. On June 9, it was known that
-twelve thousand men, or about half of our regular army, together with a
-number of volunteer regiments, under General Shafter, had set sail from
-Tampa, and, on the following day, the Spaniards began preparations for a
-vigorous defense of Santiago against a land force by means of carefully
-planned intrenchments. On June 11, a body of United States marines
-landed at Guantanamo Bay, and, on the three ensuing days, sustained
-successfully determined assaults by the Spaniards. On June 15, the
-“Vesuvius,” carrying a pneumatic gun, which discharges a tube loaded
-with dynamite, arrived off Santiago, and fully justified the
-expectations of her inventor by the efficient part which she took in the
-bombardment. Since June 7, the Span<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">{330}</a></span>iards had attempted to repair the
-Santiago forts, and had, to some extent, succeeded in doing so;
-consequently, on June 16, Admiral Sampson ordered the ships to open fire
-on them again, and, in this assault, is said to have discharged five
-hundred thousand pounds of metal.</p>
-
-<p>It was not until June 22, or thirteen days after his departure from
-Tampa, that General Shafter landed his troops at Baiquiri, a point on
-the coast some miles southwest of Santiago. There was furious fighting
-during the three following days, and there was a grievous loss of life
-on the American side, infantry and dismounted cavalry having been
-ordered or allowed to attack intrenchments without artillery support.
-The necessity of heavy siege guns was at once clear to professional
-soldiers, but these could not be moved from the transports to the shore,
-because only one lighter had been brought from Tampa, and even that one
-had been lost. This loss could have been quickly repaired, had not
-General Shafter refused to take with him from Tampa the signal train
-that had been made ready for him, on the ground that he “only wanted men
-who could carry muskets.” The result of this indifference to a branch of
-the service which constitutes the eyes, ears and voice of a modern army,
-was that it required two days to transmit a request from Shafter’s
-headquarters to the point where the cable could be used. On June 29, not
-having, as yet, any heavy siege guns in position, and not having so
-surrounded the city as to prevent the re-enforcement or escape of its
-garrison, General Shafter telegraphed to Washington: “I can take
-Santiago in forty-eight hours.” On July 1 and 2,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331">{331}</a></span> General Shafter made
-resolute assaults upon the Spanish intrenchments and carried many of
-them, advancing his own lines very much nearer the city. The advantage
-thus gained, however, had cost him a considerable fraction of his force.
-The whole number of Americans killed, wounded and missing during the
-land operations reached ten per cent of the number with which General
-Shafter landed on June 22. Of these land engagements the most notable
-were those of Aguadores, El Caney and San Juan.</p>
-
-<p>The battle of San Juan is described as follows:</p>
-
-<p>The dawn of July 1 found the troops of Wheeler’s division bivouacked on
-the eminence of El Pozo. Kent’s division bivouacked near the road back
-of El Pozo. Grimes’s battery went into position about two hundred and
-fifty yards west of the ruined buildings of El Pozo soon after sunrise
-and prepared gun pits. Grimes’s battery opened fire against San Juan a
-little before 8 <small>A.M.</small> The troops of the cavalry division were scattered
-about on El Pozo Hill in the rear and around the battery, without order
-and with no view to their protection from the Spanish fire. This
-condition rectified itself when the Spaniards, after five or six shots
-by the American battery, replied with shrapnel fire at correct range and
-with accurately adjusted fuses, killing two men at the first shot After
-some firing soon after 9 <small>A.M.</small> Wheeler’s division was put in march toward
-Santiago. Crossing Aguadores stream, it turned to the right, under
-General Sumner, who was in command at that time owing to General
-Wheeler’s illness. Scattering shots were fired by the Spaniards before
-the arrival of the first troops at the crossing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_332" id="page_332">{332}</a></span> but their volley
-firing did not commence until the dismounted cavalry went into position,
-crossing open ground. Kent’s division followed Wheeler’s, moving across
-the stream, and advanced along the road in close order under a severe
-enfilading fire. After advancing some distance, it turned off to the
-left. Lieutenant Ord (killed in battle) made a reconnaissance from a
-large tree on the banks of the stream.</p>
-
-<p>At about one o’clock, after a delay of nearly two hours’ waiting for the
-troops to reach their positions, the whole force advanced, charged, and
-carried the first line of intrenchments. They were afterward formed on
-the crest and there threw up intrenchments facing the second line at a
-distance of from five hundred to one thousand yards.</p>
-
-<p>We pass to the memorable naval combat of July 3, which annihilated
-Cervera’s squadron, and dealt the deathblow to Spain’s hope of making
-head against America on the sea. There is, of course, no foundation for
-the report that Admiral Cervera resolved to fly because he knew that
-Santiago would be immediately taken. The truth is that, on July 2, he
-received peremptory orders from Madrid to leave Santiago at once, no
-matter what might be the consequences; to engage the American fleet, and
-to make his way, if possible, to Havana, where he would raise the
-blockade. These orders he did his best to execute on the morning of July
-3, having been informed by signal that Admiral Sampson’s flagship, the
-“New York,” and a large part of the American fleet, were lying at some
-distance toward the east, and that only the “Brooklyn,” “Texas” and
-“Iowa” would have to be encountered if<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">{333}</a></span> the escaping ships moved
-westward. There was a mistake in this computation, for the “Oregon” also
-took an important part in the action, and so did the little
-“Gloucester,” a converted yacht, which did not hesitate, single-handed,
-to engage both of the torpedo-boat destroyers. With such information as
-he could procure, however, Admiral Cervera believed that his ships could
-outsail all of those blockading the mouth of the harbor, except the
-“Brooklyn,” and that, if the “Brooklyn” could be disabled, some, at
-least, of his vessels could escape. Accordingly, orders were issued by
-the Spanish admiral to proceed at full speed to the westward after
-clearing the entrance, and to concentrate fire upon the “Brooklyn.” In
-the attempt to carry out this programme, the four warships, “Maria
-Teresa,” “Almirante Oquendo,” “Vizcaya” and “Cristobal Colon,” followed
-by the torpedo-boat destroyers “Pluton” and “Furor,” in the order named
-and in single file, pushed with all steam up through the narrow passage
-which had been left by the sunken “Merrimac.” The concerted endeavor to
-disable the “Brooklyn” failed, and it turned out that both the “Oregon”
-and “Texas” were faster than the “Cristobal Colon,” which was much the
-swiftest of the Spanish squadron. The “Maria Teresa,” the “Almirante
-Oquendo” and the “Vizcaya” were successively riddled and put <i>hors de
-combat</i> by the rapid and accurate firing of the American ships, and were
-beached by their officers to avoid, not so much surrender, as the danger
-of explosion. The “Cristobal Colon” succeeded in reaching a point about
-fifty miles from Santiago, when it was headed off not only by the
-protected cruiser “Brooklyn,” but also by the iron<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">{334}</a></span>clads “Oregon” and
-“Texas.” From that moment, escape was seen to be impossible, so the
-commander beached his ship and hauled down his flag. This closing
-incident of the battle took place at 1.20 <small>P.M.</small>, almost exactly four
-hours after the leading vessel of the escaping column, the “Maria
-Teresa,” had passed the Morro. Meanwhile, the little “Gloucester,” under
-Commander Richard Wainwright, had stopped both of the torpedo-boat
-destroyers, received their fire, and detained them until an ironclad
-came up.</p>
-
-<p>It will be observed that the Spanish squadron did not have to contend
-with the whole of the American fleet, but that, on the contrary, the
-forces engaged were, on paper, much more nearly equal than is generally
-understood. The Americans had the first-class battleships “Oregon” and
-“Iowa,” the second-class battleship “Texas,” the protected cruiser
-“Brooklyn,” and the converted yacht “Gloucester.” The Spaniards, on
-their part, had one armored cruiser, three protected cruisers, and two
-torpedo-boat destroyers. It is certainly a remarkable fact, and one
-almost without a parallel in naval annals, if we except Dewey’s
-achievement at Manila, that not a single one of the Spanish vessels
-should have managed to escape. The honor of the almost unique victory at
-Santiago belongs, beyond a doubt, to Commodore Schley, for, at the
-beginning of the action, Admiral Sampson, in his flagship, the “New
-York,” was out of sight, and he remained out of signal distance until
-almost the end.</p>
-
-<p>Almost immediately after these incidents an expedition under command of
-General Miles proceeded to Porto Rico, where, on the southwest coast, at
-the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">{335}</a></span> little village of Guanica, a landing was effected on July 25.</p>
-
-<p>Twenty-four hours later, the Spanish Government, through M. Jules
-Cambon, the French Embassador at Washington, made a formal proposal for
-ending the war and arranging terms of peace.</p>
-
-<p>As a basis for peace negotiations it was stipulated that Spain should
-first relinquish her sovereignty over any part of the Western
-Hemisphere, that the Spanish forces in Porto Rico and Cuba should be
-withdrawn unassisted by the United States, and that Manila should be
-surrendered to the American forces.</p>
-
-<p>The aggressive operations of the American forces in Porto Rico and in
-the Philippines hastened the acceptance of these terms by Spain. The
-severest engagement of the campaign in Porto Rico was fought at Coamo on
-August 9. Here the Spanish commanding officer, Major Rafael M. Yllesca,
-was killed, after having defended his critical position with great
-bravery. From all sides the Americans now advanced upon San Juan de
-Porto Rico, the most important stronghold of the island.</p>
-
-<p>In the Philippines, likewise, events were nearing a crisis. On August 7
-Captain-General Augustin was served with a joint note from Admiral Dewey
-and General Merritt, commanding the American forces around Manila,
-advising him to remove all non-combatants in anticipation of attack.
-General Augustin refused to accept the responsibility of either
-defending or surrendering Manila, and accordingly resigned his command.
-General Fernain Jaudenes, who succeeded him, declined to remove his
-non-combatants in view of the threatening attitude of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">{336}</a></span> the Filipinos
-around Manila, and resolutely prepared for the worst.</p>
-
-<p>On August 12 the home government in Spain gave in, and authorized the
-French Embassador in Washington to sign the peace protocol agreed upon
-in behalf of Spain. The instrument was formally executed during the
-afternoon of the same day. Its exact text was as follows:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">
-<i>Protocol of agreement between the United States and Spain,
-embodying the terms of a basis for the establishment of peace
-between the two countries</i>:</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p>William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and his
-Excellency Jules Cambon, Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
-the Republic of France at Washington, respectively possessing for this
-purpose full authority from the Government of the United States and the
-Government of Spain, have concluded and signed the following articles,
-embodying the terms on which the two Governments have agreed in respect
-to the matters hereinafter set forth, having in view the establishment
-of peace between the two countries, that is to say:</p>
-
-<p>Article I. Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title
-to Cuba.</p>
-
-<p>Article II. Spain will cede to the United States the island of Porto
-Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies,
-and also an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the United States.</p>
-
-<p>Article III. The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay, and
-harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of the treaty of peace, which
-shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the
-Philippines.</p>
-
-<p>Article IV. Spain will immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico, and other
-islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies; and to this
-end each Govern<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">{337}</a></span>ment will, within ten days after the signing of this
-protocol, appoint Commissioners, and the Commissioners so appointed
-shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol, meet at
-Havana for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the
-aforesaid evacuation of Cuba and the adjacent Spanish islands, and each
-Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol,
-appoint other Commissioners, who shall, within thirty days after the
-signing of this protocol, meet at San Juan, in Porto Rico, for the
-purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid
-evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty
-in the West Indies.</p>
-
-<p>Article V. The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than
-five Commissioners to treat of peace, and the Commissioners so appointed
-shall meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898, and proceed to the
-negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, which treaty shall be
-subject to ratification according to the respective constitutional forms
-of the two countries.</p>
-
-<p>Article VI. Upon the conclusion and signing of this protocol hostilities
-between the two countries shall be suspended, and notice to that effect
-shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders
-of its military and naval forces.</p>
-
-<p>Done at Washington, in duplicate, in English and in French, by the
-undersigned, who have hereunto set their hands and seals, the 12th day
-of August, 1898.</p>
-
-<p class="rt">
-(Seal.) <span class="smcap">William R. Day.</span><br />
-(Seal.) <span class="smcap">Jules Cambon.</span><br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>An armistice was declared at once, and mutual orders were issued to
-cease hostilities. The blockade of Cuba was raised. Owing to delay in
-the transmission of these orders the war in the Philippines was
-continued for twenty-four hours. On August 13, General Fernain Jaudenes,
-who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_338" id="page_338">{338}</a></span> had succeeded Governor-General Augustin, succumbed to a combined
-attack of the American army and navy forces, and signed a formal
-capitulation with all the honors of war. The last battle of the war was
-a naval engagement off Caibarien, in Cuba, between the Spanish gunboat
-“Herman Cortes” and the American gunboat “Mangrove.” While the two
-vessels were still engaged the news of the suspension of hostilities was
-signaled from shore.</p>
-
-<p>On September 15 the Queen-Regent approved the appointment of the
-following Peace Commissioners: Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the
-Senate; Buenaventura Abarzuza, Senator; Wenceslao Ramirez de
-Villa-Urrutia, Embassador to Belgium; General Rafael Cerero y Saluz, and
-José de Garnica, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. Senor Ojeda
-served as secretary. The American Peace Commissioners were William R.
-Day, ex-Secretary of State; Senators Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye,
-and George Gray, with Whitelaw Reid, American Embassador to France. The
-joint sessions of the two bodies at Paris began on October 1, and ended
-with the signing of a conclusive peace treaty on December 10.</p>
-
-<p>The full text of the peace treaty was as follows:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen-Regent of
-Spain, in the name of her august son, Don Alfonso XIII., desiring
-to end the state of war now existing between the two countries,
-have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries:</p>
-
-<p>The President of the United States:</p>
-
-<p>William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray, and
-Whitelaw Reid, citizens of the United States;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">{339}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>And her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain:</p>
-
-<p>Don Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate; Don Buenaventura
-de Abarzuza, Senator of the Kingdom and ex-Minister of the Crown;
-Don José de Garnica, Deputy to the Cortes and Associate Justice of
-the Supreme Court; Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, Envoy
-Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Brussels, and Don
-Rafael Cerero, General of Division.</p>
-
-<p>Who, having assembled in Paris and having exchanged their full
-powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have, after
-discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following
-articles:</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE I</p>
-<p>Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.</p>
-
-<p>And as the island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied
-by the United States, the United States will, so long as such
-occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that
-may under international law result from the fact of its occupation
-for the protection of life and property.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE II</p>
-<p>Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other
-islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the
-island of Guam, in the Mariannes or Ladrones.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE III</p>
-<p>Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the
-Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the
-following lines:</p>
-
-<p>A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth
-parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable
-channel of Bachti, from the one hundred and eighteenth to the one
-hundred and twenty-seventh degree<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">{340}</a></span> meridian of longitude east of
-Greenwich, thence along the one hundred and twenty-seventh degree
-meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of four
-degrees and forty-five minutes north latitude, thence along the
-parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes north latitude to
-its intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and
-nineteen degrees and thirty-five minutes east of Greenwich, thence
-along the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees
-and thirty-five minutes east of Greenwich to the parallel of
-latitude seven degrees and forty minutes north, thence along the
-parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes north to its
-intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth degree meridian of
-longitude east of Greenwich, thence by a direct line to the
-intersection of the tenth degree parallel of north latitude with
-the one hundred and eighteenth degree meridian of longitude east of
-Greenwich, and thence along the one hundred and eighteenth degree
-meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.</p>
-
-<p>The United States will pay to Spain the sum of $20,000,000 within
-three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present
-treaty.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE IV</p>
-<p>The United States will, for ten years from the date of exchange of
-ratifications of the present treaty, admit Spanish ships and
-merchandise to the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same
-terms as ships and merchandise of the United States.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE V</p>
-<p>The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty,
-send back to Spain, at its own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as
-prisoners of war on the capture of Manila by the American forces.
-The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">{341}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Spain will, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the present
-treaty, proceed to evacuate the Philippines, as well as the island
-of Guam, on terms similar to those agreed upon by the Commissioners
-appointed to arrange for the evacuation of Porto Rico and other
-islands in the West Indies under the protocol of August 12, 1898,
-which is to continue in force till its provisions are completely
-executed.</p>
-
-<p>The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands and
-Guam shall be completed shall be fixed by the two Governments.
-Stands of colors, uncaptured war vessels, small arms, guns of all
-calibers, with their carriages and accessories, powder, ammunition,
-live stock, and materials and supplies of all kinds belonging to
-the land and naval forces of Spain in the Philippines and Guam
-remain the property of Spain. Pieces of heavy ordnance, exclusive
-of field artillery, in the fortifications and coast defenses shall
-remain in their emplacements for the term of six months, to be
-reckoned from the exchange of ratifications of the treaty; and the
-United States may in the meantime purchase such material from Spain
-if a satisfactory agreement between the two Governments on the
-subject shall be reached.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE VI</p>
-<p>Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all
-prisoners of war and all persons detained or imprisoned for
-political offenses in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and
-the Philippines and the war with the United States.</p>
-
-<p>Reciprocally the United States will release all persons made
-prisoners of war by the American forces, and will undertake to
-obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the
-insurgents in Cuba and the Philippines.</p>
-
-<p>The Government of the United States will at its own cost return to
-Spain, and the Government of Spain will at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">{342}</a></span> its own cost return to
-the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, according
-to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or
-caused to be released by them, respectively, under this article.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE VII</p>
-<p>The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for
-indemnity, national and individual, of every kind, of either
-Government, or of its citizens or subjects, against the other
-Government, which may have arisen since the beginning of the late
-insurrection in Cuba and prior to the exchange of ratifications of
-the present treaty, including all claims for indemnity for the cost
-of the war. The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims
-of its citizens against Spain relinquished in this article.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE VIII</p>
-<p>In conformity with the provisions of Articles I., II. and III. of
-this treaty, Spain relinquishes in Cuba and cedes in Porto Rico and
-other islands in the West Indies, in the island of Guam, and in the
-Philippine Archipelago all the buildings, wharves, barracks, forts,
-structures, public highways, and other immovable property which in
-conformity with law belong to the public domain and as such belong
-to the Crown of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as
-the case may be, to which the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in
-any respect impair the property or rights which by law belong to
-the peaceful possession of property of all kinds of provinces,
-municipalities, public or private establishments, ecclesiastical or
-civic bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to
-acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories,
-renounced or ceded, or of private individuals, of whatsoever
-nationality such individuals may be.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343">{343}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be,
-includes all documents exclusively referring to the sovereignty
-relinquished or ceded that may exist in the archives of the
-Peninsula. Where any document in such archives only in part relates
-to said sovereignty a copy of such part will be furnished whenever
-it shall be requested. Like rules shall be reciprocally observed in
-favor of Spain in respect of documents in the archives of the
-islands above referred to.</p>
-
-<p>In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, are
-also included such rights as the Crown of Spain and its authorities
-possess in respect of the official archives and records, executive
-as well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate
-to said islands or the rights and property of their inhabitants.
-Such archives and records shall be carefully preserved, and private
-persons shall, without distinction, have the right to require, in
-accordance with the law, authenticated copies of the contracts,
-wills, and other instruments forming part of notarial protocols or
-files, or which may be contained in the executive or judicial
-archives, be the latter in Spain or in the islands aforesaid.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE IX</p>
-<p>Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the
-territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or
-cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such territory or may remove
-therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property,
-including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its
-proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their
-industry, commerce, and professions, being subject in respect
-thereof to such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. In case
-they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to
-the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of record, within a
-year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty,
-a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in
-default of which declaration they shall be held to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_344" id="page_344">{344}</a></span> renounced
-it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which
-they may reside.</p>
-
-<p>The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of
-the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be
-determined by the Congress.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE X</p>
-<p>The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or
-cedes her sovereignty shall be secured in the free exercise of
-their religion.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XI</p>
-<p>The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this
-treaty cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in
-matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts
-of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws
-governing the same; and they shall have the right to appear before
-such courts and to pursue the same course as citizens of the
-country to which the courts belong.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XII</p>
-<p>Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of
-ratifications of this treaty in the territories over which Spain
-relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined according
-to the following rules:</p>
-
-<p>First&mdash;Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private
-individuals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and
-with respect to which there is no recourse or right of review under
-the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed
-in due form by competent authority in the territory within which
-such judgments should be carried out.</p>
-
-<p>Second&mdash;Civil suits between private individuals which may on the
-date mentioned be undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgment
-before the court in which they may then be pending, or in the court
-that may be substituted therefor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">{345}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Third&mdash;Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the
-Supreme Court of Spain against citizens of the territory which by
-this treaty ceases to be Spanish shall continue under its
-jurisdiction until final judgment; but, such judgment having been
-rendered, the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent
-authority of the place in which the case arose.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XIII</p>
-<p>The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired
-by Spaniards in the island of Cuba, and in Porto Rico, the
-Philippines, and other ceded territories, at the time of the
-exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be
-respected. Spanish scientific, literary and artistic works not
-subversive of public order in the territories in question shall
-continue to be admitted free of duty into such territories for the
-period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date of the exchange
-of the ratifications of this treaty.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XIV</p>
-<p>Spain shall have the power to establish consular officers in the
-ports and places of the territories the sovereignty over which has
-either been relinquished or ceded by the present treaty.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XV</p>
-<p>The Government of each country will, for the term of ten years,
-accord to the merchant vessels of the other country the same
-treatment in respect to all port charges, including entrance and
-clearance dues, light dues and tonnage duties, as it accords to its
-own merchant vessels not engaged in the coastwise trade.</p>
-
-<p>This article may at any time be terminated on six months’ notice
-given by either Government to the other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">{346}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XVI</p>
-<p>It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the
-United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its
-occupancy thereof; but it will upon the termination of such
-occupancy advise any Government established in the island to assume
-the same obligations.</p>
-
-<p class="chead2">ARTICLE XVII</p>
-<p>The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United
-States, by and with the consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her
-Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain; and the ratifications shall be
-exchanged at Washington within six months from the date hereof, or
-earlier if possible.</p>
-
-<p>In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed
-this treaty, and have hereunto affixed our seals.</p>
-
-<p>Done in duplicate at Paris the tenth day of December, in the year
-of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.</p></div>
-
-<p>In pursuance of these terms the evacuation of Porto Rico, Cuba and of
-the Philippine Islands was carried to a successful end, under the
-supervision of the Evacuation Commissioners appointed by Spain.</p>
-
-<p>After the peace treaty had been ratified by the American Senate and
-signed by President McKinley, on February 10, it received the signature
-of the Queen Regent on March 17, the Cortes having been prorogued.</p>
-
-<p>In a Red Book on the peace treaty issued by the Government later in the
-year, Senor Rios thus explained Spain’s predicaments:</p>
-
-<p>“The prostration and bloodless indifference of the public mind
-constantly alluded to in the press, the want of well meditated
-exposition of a high plane in the discus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">{347}</a></span>sion and defense of Spain,
-especially those which related to the colonial debts, perhaps the most
-important which she had to assert in the conference; the multiplicity of
-opinions constantly manifested during these negotiations on the other
-points to be determined in the treaty; the eagerness apparent from the
-first day on the part of this press that the Philippine Archipelago
-should be abandoned, its preservation being considered incompatible with
-the national interests; the incessant excitation of another part of the
-press for this Commission to promptly terminate in any way whatever its
-labors, giving way at once to the exigencies of the Federal Government,
-and many other things which converted the Spanish press into a subject
-for the preferred attention of the American Commissioners, weakened the
-moral influence of this Commission and the force of its demands and of
-the reasons on which it founded them. Would to God that they may not
-also have strengthened the spirit of the American Commission to uphold
-and amplify its exactions!</p>
-
-<p>“The Spanish Commission, considering the narrow limits in which it could
-move and which had been irrevocably fixed for Spain in the preliminaries
-of peace signed at Washington on August 12 last, during these
-negotiations constantly drew inspiration for its acts in the purpose to
-save from the ruin of the colonial empire of Spain such remnants as were
-possible, however lacking in importance these remnants might be, and,
-above all, in its unconquerable resolve to never consent that the honor
-and the dignity of the fatherland should become stained.</p>
-
-<p>“As regards the question of the ‘Maine,’ the truth is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">{348}</a></span> that above all
-precedents there weighed upon the American Commission the inability of
-giving any satisfactory reply to the Spanish protest, because of the
-action of the President of the Union&mdash;violative of the most elementary
-dictates of generosity and prudence&mdash;on recalling, with language
-offensive to Spain, the ‘Maine’ incident on the most solemn occasion in
-the public life of the United States, and when the negotiations for the
-re-establishment of peace were on the point of terminating.</p>
-
-<p>“The Commission believes, then, that it has done its duty. It
-understands the treaty concluded is the least prejudicial for Spain that
-it was possible to obtain in view of the foreign circumstances, which
-could not but inevitably bear down their heavy weight upon her. It
-trusts that the coming time will demonstrate this, and it entertains the
-hope that, despite the solution imposed on the terrible crisis through
-which the nation has just passed, it may soon recover its strength and
-grandeur, and it believes, finally, that the honor and the dignity of
-the fatherland have been saved in these painful negotiations as the most
-precious remnants of the wreck of the old Spanish colonial empire.”</p>
-
-<p>The subsequent Bale of the Caroline and Ladrone Islands to Germany, for
-the sum of 5,000,000 pesos, disposed of the last remnants of the Spanish
-colonial empire. The Ministry of Colonies was abolished. Then followed a
-series of military and naval courts-martial of the various commanding
-officers implicated in the capitulations of Manila and Santiago de Cuba,
-notably Admirals Montojo, Cervera and Generals Augustin, Jaudenes,
-Linares and Toral. The officers laid the responsibility for their
-actions at the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">{349}</a></span> of the Ministry of Marine. Minister d’Aunon had to
-resign.</p>
-
-<p>Another Cabinet crisis resulted in a new Ministry composed of the
-following members&mdash;President of Council and Minister Foreign Affairs,
-Senor Silvela; War, General Azcarraga; Marine, Admiral Gomez Imaz;
-Interior, Senor Dato; Finance, Senor Villaverde; Public Works, Marquis
-Pidel; Justice, Senor Bas.</p>
-
-<p>Later Count Torreanaz succeeded Senor Bas in the Ministry of Justice,
-and General Weyler became Minister of War.</p>
-
-<p>Weyler’s most formidable rival, Marshal Arsenio Martinez de Campos,
-former Captain-General of Spain and Cuba, died in 1900 at Zarauz. With
-Jovellar, he issued the pronunciamiento of Sagoote, through which
-Alfonso reached the throne. Placed in full command of the Spanish forces
-by young Alfonso, he ended the civil war by defeating Don Carlos at Pena
-de la Plata in 1876. Despatched to Cuba, he succeeded in putting a stop
-to the ten years’ war there by his liberal concessions to the
-insurgents. Later he was once more sent to Cuba to cope with the final
-insurrection in that island. But his measures were held to be too
-conciliatory, and he was recalled in 1895, without having accomplished
-his task. Campos never recovered from this disgrace.</p>
-
-<p>The accession of King Alfonso XIII. to the throne, as actual ruler, was
-set for his sixteenth birthday, May 17, 1902. Accordingly his mother
-delivered her last speech from the throne as Queen-Regent in June of the
-preceding year.</p>
-
-<p>The complete list of titles falling to the little king upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">{350}</a></span> his
-accession are in themselves an epitome of Spain’s former historic
-grandeur. King Alfonso’s full royal titles are: “His Most Catholic
-Majesty, Alfonso, King of Spain, Castile and Léon, Aragon, the Two
-Sicilies, Jerusalem, the Canary Islands, the East and West Indies,
-India, the Oceanic Continent, and King of Gibraltar.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">{351}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><br />
-<span class="chead">SPANISH ART, LITERATURE, AND SPORT</span></h2>
-
-<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I<br /><br /><i>PAINTING AND ARCHITECTURE</i></h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> Spanish paintings are feeble imitations of Italian and Flemish
-art. They lack the simplicity of the one and the realism of the other.
-In color they are somber and monotonous&mdash;two qualities which
-characterize the whole Spanish school. The value of this school has been
-curiously overrated. Comparatively speaking of brief existence, it has
-produced but two great painters&mdash;Velasquez and Murillo. Their
-contemporaries, Zurbaran, Del Mazo, Ribera, Alonso Cano, Herrera and
-Roelas, were men of ability, no doubt, but they were not masters.</p>
-
-<p>Excellent examples of Velasquez and of Murillo are to be found to-day in
-the Museum of the Prado at Madrid, and in the Art Gallery of Seville.
-The cathedrals and churches generally contain works of the principal
-painters, both of the early and later times; but placed, as a rule, in
-“Retablos” or altar-pieces, they are poorly exposed and difficult to
-view.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Don Diego Velasquez de Silva</span>, or simply <span class="smcap">Velasquez</span>, the greatest painter
-that Spain has produced, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">{352}</a></span> born at Seville, in 1599, of parents of
-Portuguese origin, and died at Madrid in 1660. He married in his youth
-the daughter of <span class="smcap">Francisco Pacheco</span>, a painter of inferior merit, but a
-learned writer on art, from whose advice and instruction he derived much
-advantage. Velasquez showed from his childhood a genius for painting. He
-began by copying carefully from nature, still life, and living models,
-forming himself upon the study of pictures by Ribera and by Italian
-masters of the Naturalistic school, which had been brought from Italy to
-Spain. The best examples of his first manner are “The Adoration of the
-Kings” and his famous “Borrachos,” or drunkards, in the Madrid Gallery.
-In them the influence of Caravaggio and Ribera is very evident. In the
-twenty-third year of his age he went to Madrid, and, attracting the
-notice of influential persons, was soon taken into the service of Philip
-IV.&mdash;an enthusiastic lover of art, and himself a painter. He remained
-there for the rest of his life, and his pictures were almost exclusively
-painted for his royal patron and for the grandees of the Spanish court.
-A friendship with Rubens, who was in Madrid as embassador from the King
-of England, in 1628, and two visits to Italy, in 1629 and 1648, led him
-to modify his early manner. From the study at Venice of the masterpieces
-of Titian and Tintoret, he acquired a greater harmony and transparency
-of color, and a freer and firmer touch, without departing from that
-truthful representation of nature which he always sought to attain. On
-his second visit to Italy he chiefly studied in Rome. He again changed
-his style: his coloring became more what the Italians term “sfumato,” or
-hazy; and he returned, to some extent, to his early general soberness of
-tone, rarely introducing bright colors into his last pictures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">{353}</a></span>
-Velasquez’s second and third manners, as well as his first, are fully
-represented in the Madrid Gallery, which contains no less than sixty of
-his pictures, or almost the whole of his genuine works. The “Borrachos”
-have already been mentioned as an example of his first manner. The fine
-portrait of the Infante Don Carlos, second son of Philip III., is
-another. In his second manner are the “Surrender of Breda,” perhaps the
-finest representation and treatment of a contemporary historical event
-in the world; the magnificent portrait of the Count of Benavente, and
-the four Dwarfs. In his third, the “Meninas,” and the “Hilanderas.” By
-studying these pictures the student will soon be able to distinguish
-between the three manners of the painter, and to decide for himself as
-to the genuineness of the many pictures which pass for Velasquez’s in
-the public and private galleries of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>It was principally as a portrait-painter that Velasquez excelled.
-Although he wanted the imagination of Titian, and gave less dignity and
-refinement than that great master to his portraits, yet in a marvelous
-power of rendering nature, and in truthfulness of expression, he was not
-his inferior. In the imaginative faculties he was singularly deficient,
-as his “Forge of Vulcan,” the “Coronation of the Virgin,” and other
-works of that class in the Madrid Gallery, are sufficient to prove.
-However, the “Crucifixion,” in the same collection, is a grand and
-solemn conception, which has excited the enthusiastic admiration of some
-critics. Velasquez was essentially a “naturalistic” painter. In the
-representation of animals, especially dogs, and of details such as
-armor, drapery, and objects of still life, he is almost without a rival.
-His freedom of touch and power of producing truthful effects<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">{354}</a></span> by the
-simplest means are truly wonderful. His aerial perspective his light and
-shade, his gradations of tone and color, are all equally excellent, and
-have excited the admiration of Wilkie, and of the best judges of art.</p>
-
-<p>The high offices which Velasquez held at court gave him but little time
-to paint. The number of his pictures is, therefore, comparatively small.
-They were principally executed for the royal palaces; those which have
-escaped the fires that destroyed so many great works have been removed
-to the Madrid Museum. The portraits which are attributed to him in many
-public and private collections out of Spain are, for the most part, by
-his pupils, or imitators and copyists. One of the most skillful of the
-latter was a certain Lucas, who, not many years ago, succeeded in
-deceiving many collectors.</p>
-
-<p>Among his best scholars were: <span class="smcap">Juan Bautista del Mazo</span> (d. 1667), his
-son-in-law. How nearly he approached his master may be seen by his
-admirable portrait of D. Tiburcio de Redin, and the view of Saragossa,
-in which the figures have even been attributed to Velasquez, in the
-Madrid Gallery. <span class="smcap">Pareja</span>, his half-caste slave, and afterward freedman (d.
-1670), who imitated his master in his portraits, but not in his
-religious and other subjects, in which he followed the Dutch and Italian
-painters of the time; as in his “Calling of St. Mark,” in the same
-gallery. <span class="smcap">Carreno</span>, a member of a noble family (b. 1614; d. 1685), who
-succeeded Velasquez as court painter, and who is chiefly known by his
-portraits of the idiot king (Charles II.), his mother, Mariana of
-Austria, Don John of Austria (not the hero of Lepanto), and other royal
-and courtly persons of the period. Spanish writers on art rank him with
-Vandyke, to whom, however, he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">{355}</a></span> greatly inferior. His coloring is
-generally insipid, and wanting in vigor.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Bartolome Esteban Murillo</span> was born at Seville in 1616. He studied under
-Juan del Castillo, a very indifferent painter, but formed his style,
-like Velasquez, on the works of Ribera and the Italian naturalistic
-painters. Like that great master, too, he modified his “manner” three
-times, as he gained in experience and knowledge. From his boyhood he
-painted pictures which were sold in the market-place of his native city,
-and bought by dealers; chiefly, it is said, for exportation to the
-Spanish colonies in America. After obtaining a considerable reputation
-at Seville, he went to Madrid to improve himself by the study of the
-works of the great Italian masters in the royal collection. Their
-influence led him to modify his first style, called by the Spaniards
-<i>frio</i> (cold), in which he had imitated the brown tints, dark shadows,
-and conventional treatment of drapery of Ribera; but he did not abandon
-it altogether. It may still be traced in his second, or <i>calido</i> (warm)
-manner, as in the celebrated “Holy Family,” called “Del Pajarito,” in
-the Madrid Gallery. The advice of Velasquez, who treated him with great
-kindness, and the works of Titian and Rubens, led him to adopt a warm,
-harmonious and transparent coloring, and a more truthful rendering of
-nature; at the same time his drawing became more free, if not more
-correct. His third manner is termed by the Spaniards <i>vaporoso</i> (misty),
-from a gradual and almost imperceptible fusion of tints, producing a
-kind of hazy effect. In it are painted, for the most part, his
-well-known “Miraculous Conceptions,” the Virgin standing on the crescent
-moon attended by angels. The three manners of Murillo are neither so
-well defined nor so<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">{356}</a></span> easily recognized as those of Velasquez. He never
-completely abandoned one of them for the other, and in his last pictures
-he frequently returned to the calido style. As a painter of portraits
-and landscapes, he was inferior to Velasquez. It was only in religious
-subjects, and especially in his Holy Families, that he surpassed him.
-His Virgins are taken from the common type of Andalusian beauty,
-slightly idealized; but he gives to them an expression of youthful
-innocence and religious sentiment which makes him the most popular of
-Spanish painters. The Spaniards are naturally proud of him. They believe
-that he unites the best qualities of the greatest masters, and surpasses
-them all. All other critics place him second to Velasquez, who
-unquestionably possessed a more original genius. Comparisons between
-these two great painters are, however, more than usually pointless and
-misleading, the two men being essentially different in feeling, taste,
-and manner.</p>
-
-<p>Returning to Seville, after his first and only visit to Madrid, Murillo
-established himself there for the rest of his life, painting, with the
-help of scholars, many pictures for churches and convents in Spain and
-her colonies. In the Peninsula, his best works are now only found at
-Madrid and in his native city. The French invaders and the
-picture-dealers carried the greater number away. Among those most worthy
-of note at Madrid are the “St. Elizabeth of Hungary tending the Sick,”
-and the “Patrician’s Dream,” now in the Academy of San Fernando, and the
-two “Immaculate Conceptions” in the Gallery: at Seville, “St. Thomas of
-Villanueva distributing Alms to the Poor,” in the public Museum; the
-“St. Anthony of Padua” in the Cathedral; and the pictures in the
-Caridad. Of his well-known sunburned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">{357}</a></span> beggar-boys and girls there are
-none, that we know of, in Spain; many of those in European collections
-are probably by his favorite pupil, <span class="smcap">Villavicencio</span>, in whose arms he died
-at Seville in 1682. There is a picture by this painter, who was of a
-noble family, and rather an amateur than an artist, in the Madrid
-Gallery, representing a group of boys at play. It has no great merit,
-but shows how he attempted to imitate his master in this class of
-subject. He was born in 1635, and died in 1700. The imitations and
-copies of Murillo by <span class="smcap">Tobar</span> (d. 1758) are so successful that they
-frequently pass for originals. The same may be said of some by <span class="smcap">Meneses</span>,
-who died early in the 18th century.</p>
-
-<p>Among the contemporaries of Murillo was <span class="smcap">Iriarte</span> (b. 1620; d. 1685), one
-of the few landscape-painters that Spain has produced. His landscapes
-were much esteemed by Murillo, but they are not entitled to rank with
-the works of any of the great masters in this branch of the art. The
-Madrid Gallery contains five examples of them.</p>
-
-<p>The following painters may be mentioned among the best and most
-characteristic of the second class in the Spanish school: <span class="smcap">Francisco de
-Zurbaran</span>, born in Estremadura in 1598, died at Madrid 1662, was
-essentially a religious painter, and his somber coloring and the
-subjects of his pictures are characteristic of Spanish bigotry and of
-the Inquisition. In Spain he is chiefly known by his altar-pieces for
-churches and convents; out of Spain by his monks and friars. A few
-figures of female saints prove that he was not insensible to grace of
-form and beauty of color. But he is usually mannered, and without
-dignity. A disagreeable reddish hue pervades his larger pictures. He
-formed himself, like his contemporaries, on the study of the Italian
-painters of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_358" id="page_358">{358}</a></span> Naturalistic school. Philip IV. is said to have named
-him “Painter of the King, and King of Painters.” He enjoyed the first
-title, but did not merit the second. His best work in Spain is, perhaps,
-the “Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas,” in the Seville Museum. It is a
-grand, but somewhat stiff and unpleasing composition. Zurbaran is badly
-represented in the Madrid Gallery. The “Christ Sleeping on the Cross” is
-the most popular in it. One or two of his works are to be found in the
-Academy of San Fernando.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Alonso Cano</span> (born at Granada, 1601; died there, 1667) enjoys the highest
-reputation in Spain after Zurbaran. He was painter, sculptor, and
-architect, and, moreover, carved and painted wooden figures of the
-Virgin and Saints, an art in which he attained great success and renown.
-Many examples of his skill may be seen at Granada. One of the most
-celebrated is the statuette of St. Francis in the sacristy of the
-Cathedral of Toledo. Cano was a violent, but not unkindly man,
-constantly engaged in quarrels and lawsuits. He ended by becoming a
-canon of the Cathedral of Granada, after narrowly escaping from the
-clutches of the Inquisition. His drawing is carefully studied, but is
-frequently exaggerated, and wants ease and flow; his coloring
-conventional and somewhat weak; but there is a delicacy of expression
-and refinement in his works which have earned him the praise of some
-critics. The Madrid Gallery contains a few of his pictures: among them a
-“Dead Christ”; but he is best seen at Granada.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Francisco Herrera el Viejo</span>, or the elder (b. 1576; d. 1656). His
-principal works are at Seville and out of Spain. The Madrid Gallery
-contains nothing by him. Spanish writers on art attribute to him the
-introduction into Spain of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">{359}</a></span> new style of painting, characteristic of
-the national genius. It was vigorous, but coarse, and has little to
-recommend it even to those who admire the Italian eclectic school. Like
-Cano, he was a man of hot temper, quarreled with his pupils, among whom
-was Velasquez, and was thrown into prison on a charge of coining false
-money. He was released by Philip IV. on account of his merits as a
-painter. His best work in Spain is the “Last Judgment,” in the church of
-St. Bernardo at Seville, which is praised for its composition and the
-correct anatomy of the human form. Herrera painted in fresco, for which
-he was well fitted from his bold and rapid execution; but his works in
-that material have mostly perished.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Francisco Herrera el Mozo</span>, or the younger (b. 1622; d. 1685), son of the
-former, studied at Rome, where he was chiefly known for his pictures of
-dead animals and still life. The Italians nicknamed him “Lo Spagnuolo
-dei pesci,” from his clever representations of fish. He was a painter of
-small merit; weak and affected in his drawing, color, and composition.
-The Madrid Gallery contains but one of his pictures&mdash;the “Triumph of St.
-Hermenegildo.” Like his father, he painted frescoes, some of which are
-still preserved in the churches of Madrid. He was also an architect, and
-made the plans for the “Virgen del Pilar” at Saragossa.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Juan de las Roelas</span>, commonly known in Spain as “El Clerigo Roelas,” was
-born at Seville about 1558, and died in 1625. He studied at Venice;
-hence the richness and brilliancy of color in his best works, as in the
-fine picture of the “Martyrdom of St. Andrew,” in the Museum of Seville.
-In the churches of that city are some altar-pieces by him worthy of
-notice. He is scarcely known out of Spain, or, indeed, out of Seville,
-although he may be ranked among the best<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">{360}</a></span> of the Spanish painters of the
-second rank. The picture in the Madrid Gallery attributed to him, if
-genuine, is a very inferior work.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Juan de Valdés Leal</span>&mdash;born at Cordova in 1630, died at Seville 1691&mdash;was
-a painter of considerable ability, but of a hasty and jealous temper,
-which he especially displayed toward Murillo, the superiority of whose
-work he would not acknowledge. His pictures are rare, and are best seen
-at Seville. The Caridad in that city contains two, representing the
-“Triumph of Death,” which are powerful, but coarse. He was also an
-engraver of skill.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Francisco Rizzi</span>, the son of a Bolognese painter who had settled in
-Spain, was born at Madrid in 1608, and died there in 1685. He was a
-rapid and not unskillful painter, and was employed to decorate in
-fresco, in the Italian fashion, the churches and royal palaces of the
-capital. His well-known picture in the Madrid Gallery representing the
-“Auto da Fé” held in the Plaza Mayor before Charles II. and his queen,
-Marie Luisa of Orleans, in 1680, although awkward and formal in
-composition, is cleverly painted.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Claudio Coello</span>, died 1693, was chiefly employed by the Spanish court in
-portrait-painting and in decorating the royal palaces for triumphs and
-festivities. His best known and most important picture, in the sacristy
-of the Escorial, is the “Santa Forma,” or “Removal of the Miraculous
-Wafer of Gorcum,” in which he has introduced portraits of Charles II.
-and of the officers of his court. It is crowded and unskillful in
-composition, but has merits which show that he had preserved the best
-traditions of the Spanish school of painters, of whom he was almost the
-last.</p>
-
-<p>The history of Spanish painting closes with the seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">{361}</a></span>teenth century.
-During the eighteenth there appeared a few feeble painters who imitated,
-but were even immeasurably behind the Luca Giordanos, Tiepolos, and
-other Italians whom the Bourbon kings invited to Madrid to decorate the
-new royal palace, and to make designs for the royal manufactory of
-tapestries. The first who attempted to revive Spanish art was <span class="smcap">Francisco
-Goya</span> (born in 1746), a vigorous but eccentric painter and etcher in aqua
-fortis, not wanting in genius. He studied at Rome, and returning to
-Spain executed frescoes, with little success, in churches at Madrid and
-elsewhere. He became “pintor de camara,” or court painter, to the weak
-Charles IV. and vicious Ferdinand VII. In numerous portraits of these
-kings and of members of the Spanish Bourbon family he made them, perhaps
-with deliberate malice&mdash;for in politics he was an ardent liberal&mdash;even
-more hideous than they were. His large picture of Charles IV. and his
-family in the Madrid Gallery is the best, but by no means an attractive
-example of his skill, and is in parts, especially in the details of
-costume, not altogether unworthy of Velasquez, whom he sought to
-imitate. But his genius was chiefly shown in his etchings, in which, in
-a grotesque, and not always decent way, he lashed the vices and
-corruption of his country, and vented his hatred against its French
-invaders. The Spaniards are very proud of Goya. The author of the “Guide
-to the Madrid Gallery” discovers in his works a union of the best
-qualities of Rembrandt, Titian, Paul Veronese, Watteau, and Lancret! He
-was, no doubt, a powerful and original painter, and his touch is often
-masterly; but he was incorrect in his drawing, and his color is
-frequently exaggerated and unnatural. His designs for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">{362}</a></span> tapestries in
-the royal palaces are generally weak and ill-drawn; but they are
-interesting as representations of national manners and costume. Goya
-died in voluntary exile at Bordeaux in 1828, having left Spain disgusted
-with the political reaction which set in on the restoration of the
-Bourbons, and with the persecution of the best and most enlightened of
-his countrymen. His works have of late years been much sought after,
-especially in France. His etchings, consisting chiefly of political
-caricatures (caprichos), scenes in the bull-ring, the horrors of war,
-etc., are rare. A new edition has recently been published of the
-“Caprichos” from the worn-out plates.</p>
-
-<p>Goya may be considered the founder of the modern Spanish school of
-painting, which has produced Fortuny, Madrazo, Plamaroli, and a number
-of other clever painters who have achieved a European reputation. It is
-not, however, in Spain, but in the private collections of London, Paris,
-and New York, that their principal works are to be found. Spaniards have
-little love or knowledge of art, and the high prices it is now the
-fashion to pay for Spanish pictures are beyond their means.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The history of architecture in Spain is similar to that of France and
-other countries of northern Europe, with, however, the essential
-difference that Moorish art in the Middle Ages attained in Spain as
-great an importance as in the East, and when combined with Christian
-art, a new style was formed, known by the name of Morisco or Mudejar,
-which is not met with out of the Spanish Peninsula, and is of great
-interest.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish architecture may be divided, after the pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_363" id="page_363">{363}</a></span>historic period, and
-invasions of the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, in the following manner:</p>
-
-<p>1. Roman period, until the invasions of the Goths.</p>
-
-<p>2. Latin Byzantine style, fifth to end of tenth century.</p>
-
-<p>3. Moorish architecture, eighth to fifteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>4. Romanesque style, eleventh, twelfth, and part of thirteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>5. Pointed architecture, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and part of
-sixteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>6. Mudejar style, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and part of
-sixteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>7. Renaissance or Plateresque style, Græco-Roman, and Churrigueresque.</p>
-
-<p>Several of the inscriptions which have come down to us of the Roman
-period (see “Corpus Inscrip.,” Vol. II., Emil Hübner) mention different
-buildings of public utility and adornment which were in course of
-construction in Spain. The number which still remains is very great, and
-may be found in almost every province; many have, however, been sadly
-mutilated. The finest are undoubtedly the aqueduct at Segovia
-(constructed of huge stones, and still used for carrying water to the
-town), the Bridge of Alcantara (Estremadura), with its triumphal arch in
-the center and temple at one end, and the walls of Lugo and Astorga. The
-general structure of these monuments and their ornamentation are the
-same as those of ancient Rome: it is well known that the Romans imposed
-their art on the countries which came under their dominion.</p>
-
-<p>Two remarkable specimens exist of the Visigothic period: the church of
-San Roman de Hornija (near Toro), 646, and San Juan de Banos (near Venta
-de Banos), 661. Although<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_364" id="page_364">{364}</a></span> these churches have suffered much from later
-additions, they still retain a great part of their construction and part
-of the primitive building. A great number of fragments remain in Spain
-of this period. They must be examined in order to judge this
-architecture. Some are capitals of columns in the Cathedral of Cordova
-and some churches at Toledo, and different friezes and fragments which
-have been applied to different uses at Toledo and Merida. The votive
-crowns found at Guarrazar, now at Cluny (Paris) and armory of Madrid,
-give an excellent idea of the ornamentation of the Visigoths. Several
-examples of architecture remain posterior to the Visigoths, and anterior
-to the Romanesque style of the eleventh century. The most important are
-the churches of Sta. Maria Naranco and St. Miguel de Lino, near Oviedo,
-Sta. Christina de Lena (Asturias), a very remarkable specimen of
-Byzantine construction, and the churches of San Pedro and San Pablo,
-Barcelona.</p>
-
-<p>The invasion of the Arabs in 711 caused their architecture to extend
-itself in the Peninsula. Its adaptation to churches and other buildings
-of the Christians created a new style, known as Mudejar. The finest
-specimen of Oriental architecture in Spain is the mosque at Cordova
-(ninth century). Byzantine models were copied there in the same manner
-as at Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo. The small mosque at Toledo (Cristo
-de la Luz) is of the same period, and part of the church of Santiago de
-Peñalva (Vierzo), the only example which is known of a Christian church
-built in the Moorish style.</p>
-
-<p>During the eleventh and twelfth centuries this architecture underwent
-radical modifications in Spain, in the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_365" id="page_365">{365}</a></span> manner as in the East, and
-a new style arose which is very different to the earlier one. No writers
-on this subject have explained this transformation in the East in a
-satisfactory manner: it is not easy to study this transition in Spain,
-for it coincides with the time in which the Spanish Moors were not rich
-or powerful enough to build large constructions, as they did in the
-thirteenth century, after the kings of Granada had settled there. At
-this period of their art the forms of capitals, which partook of a
-Byzantine and classical form, changed. Tiles are used to decorate the
-walls, which are covered with an ornamentation in relief in stucco, in
-which are introduced inscriptions in Cufic and African characters; the
-ceilings are decorated with inlaid woodwork and stalactical pendentives
-in stucco. This style ends with the conquest of Granada, 1492. The
-Alhambra is the most important example of this architecture, and
-following it the Alcazar of Seville.</p>
-
-<p>Owing to the gradual conquests by the Christians of towns belonging to
-the Muhammadans, several of them continued to be inhabited by Moors, who
-kept their customs and religion. They were called Moriscos or Mudejares.
-The chief industries of the country were in their hands, and several
-churches and other buildings of importance were built by them. They
-accommodated their architecture to European or Christian necessities,
-and created a new style (Mudejar), a mixture of Christian and Moorish
-art, which is only to be found in the Spanish Peninsula. The finest
-specimens are of the fourteenth century. The religious constructions of
-this period are remarkable for their brickwork in towers and apses, and
-fine wooden ceilings, artesonados. Examples exist at Toledo, Seville,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">{366}</a></span>
-and Granada. The interesting synagogues built by Moriscos are at Toledo
-and Segovia. As specimens of civil architecture, the finest are Casa de
-Pilatos (Seville), Palace of Mendoza (Guadalajara), Archbishop’s Palace
-(Alcalá), Casa de Mesa (Toledo). This style continued in vogue during
-the greater part of the sixteenth century, although late Gothic was
-everywhere predominant. A most striking example in which the three
-styles&mdash;Moorish, Flamboyant, and Renaissance&mdash;are combined, is to be
-found in a chapel of the cathedral of Sigüenza.</p>
-
-<p>The Romanesque style of architecture was imported in the eleventh and
-twelfth centuries from France, even more directly than in other
-countries, owing to the immense influence exercised by a large number of
-prelates and priests, who came from Cluny and Cister, and the French
-princes and families who settled in Spain. The general features of this
-architecture are similar to those of France: the differences exist
-chiefly in the general plan of the churches rather than in their
-construction and ornamentation. The choirs in Spanish cathedrals are
-placed in the central nave, a traditional remembrance of the early
-basilica. In some localities, Segovia, Avila, and Valladolid, some of
-these churches have external cloisters, an Oriental or Italian
-modification, which never occurs in France or the north of Europe.
-Romanesque examples are very numerous in Spain. Some, such as the
-doorway of the Cathedral of Santiago (Galicia), and the Old Cathedral
-(Salamanca), are not surpassed by any similar buildings in Europe.
-Specimens are only found in the northern provinces, as the south was not
-conquered from the Moors until the thirteenth century. Interesting
-examples exist in Asturias, Galicia, Castile, Aragon, and Cataluña.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_367" id="page_367">{367}</a></span> The
-cloisters of Gerona and Tarragona are unrivaled. Of the many striking
-examples of Transition from Romanesque to Early Pointed, the finest are
-the old cathedral of Lerida, the cathedrals of Tarragona and Santiago,
-and the collegiate church of Tudela.</p>
-
-<p>The specimens of Pointed style in Spain present no other variety than
-the choirs in the centers of the cathedrals. Although this style was
-imported from France early in the thirteenth century, in the same manner
-as in Germany, Romanesque churches continued to be built, and Pointed
-architecture was only finally adopted at the end of the century. The
-finest cathedrals in Spain of this architecture are those of Toledo,
-Leon, and Burgos. A great number of civil and religious buildings of
-this style are to be met with in Spain, in which the art-student will
-find constant elements of study: it underwent the same modifications in
-Spain as in other countries, until it reached, in the fifteenth century,
-its latest period, the Flamboyant style. This style lasts longer in
-Spain than in other countries, and acquires great importance. The
-cathedrals of Salamanca (la nueva) and Segovia, both built in late
-Gothic, were begun in the sixteenth century, when in other parts of
-Europe and even in Spain itself Italian Renaissance models were largely
-imported. Spanish cathedrals are undoubtedly, with the exception of
-Italy, the most interesting in Europe; for although they cannot compete
-in architectural details with those of France, they are vastly superior
-in regard to the objects they contain of ecclesiastical furniture of
-every kind&mdash;iron railings, carved stalls, monstrances, church-plate,
-vestments, pictures, and sepulchers. Toledo and Seville cathedrals are
-museums in their way.</p>
-
-<p>Italian models were copied in Spain from the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_368" id="page_368">{368}</a></span> fifteenth
-century. The portals of Santa Cruz at Valladolid and Toledo are of this
-period. Gothic architecture continued, however, for several years to
-alternate with this style. The combination of these styles produced an
-important series of models known in Spain by the name of Plateresco.</p>
-
-<p>The revival of the fine arts coincided in Spain with the greatest power
-and richness of the country. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella
-united Castile, Aragon, and the kingdom of Naples. The conquest of
-Granada completed the political unity of the country: the discoveries of
-Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro brought riches from a new world, and the
-union with the House of Austria, the Flemish States, an immense power,
-which it enjoyed during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. Renaissance
-architecture is better represented in Spain than in any other country
-except Italy. In almost all towns of importance admirable examples of
-this style will be found. The finest are at Salamanca: the University,
-Santo Domingo, Casa de las Conchas, and Salinas, San Marcos (Leon), Casa
-de Ayuntamiento (Seville), Valladolid, Saragossa, Burgos, etc.</p>
-
-<p>The cathedral and palace of Charles V. (Granada) may be quoted as an
-example of pure Græco-Roman style. Part of the Alcazar at Toledo belongs
-to this same period. The tendency to copy classical models increased
-daily. The Monastery of the Escorial may be considered the most
-important specimen of this school. In the seventeenth century the
-Borromenisco style was imported from Italy. The Pantheon at the Escorial
-is a good example. This architectural decay increased in Spain with
-great rapidity, and in no country did it reach to such an extravagant
-point. It lasted during the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth
-centuries. In Spain<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_369" id="page_369">{369}</a></span> this style is called Churrigueresque, after the
-architect Churriguera. Examples will be found everywhere. The
-Transparente (Cathedral of Toledo), retablos of San Esteban (Salamanca),
-Cartuja (Granada), and façade of Hospicio (Madrid), may be considered
-the most remarkable.</p>
-
-<p>The creation of the Academy of San Fernando, the French architects who
-accompanied Philip V., and the efforts of Charles III. to favor
-classical studies, produced the same pretentious and classical reaction
-as in the rest of Europe. The Palace and Convent of Salesas (Madrid) are
-specimens of the first movement. The Museo and Observatory of Madrid
-belong to the end of the last and beginning of the present century.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_370" id="page_370">{370}</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II<br /><br /><i>SPANISH LITERATURE</i></h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> history of Spanish literature commences at the end of the eleventh
-or beginning of the twelfth century, when the dialect emerged from the
-corrupted Latin, and became an independent language capable of producing
-literary works.</p>
-
-<p>The origin of the language may be traced to the writers of the sixth,
-seventh, to the eleventh century. They wrote in the more or less
-barbarous Latin of the period. The most important authors of this time
-were San Isidoro and his pupils, St. Eugenio, St. Ildefonso, St.
-Eulogio, Alvaro, Sansom, Pero Alonso, and Oliva. The writers of the
-Roman period, Porcio Latro, Seneca, Lucan, Martial, Pomponius Mela,
-Collumela, Silius Italicus, and Quintillian, though born in Spain, must
-be numbered among classical authors. The Spanish language is derived in
-a direct manner from the Latin, though it has been enriched by a great
-number of words belonging to the different nations which have occupied
-the whole or part of the Peninsula. Iberian, Punic, Greek, Visigothic,
-Hebrew, and Arabic words are met with in large numbers. The abundance of
-these last has induced some critics to infer that the origin of the
-language is Semitic, but its grammatical structure is undoubtedly Latin.
-The abundance of Oriental words does not influence its organization,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_371" id="page_371">{371}</a></span> or
-produce any further result than to add nouns to the language.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish literature is generally divided into three groups&mdash;twelfth
-century to end of fifteenth; sixteenth to seventeenth; eighteenth to the
-present day.</p>
-
-<p>It is highly probable that Spanish poetry began by commemorating the
-heroic deeds of Pelayo and other heroes who fought against the Moors;
-but we can trace nothing to that period. The earliest compositions which
-have reached us are, a “Charter of Oviedo,” 1145 (the “Charter of
-Aviles,” 1155, has been proved to be a forgery), and two poems on the
-Cid, the favorite hero of popular Spanish poetry, 1040-1099. The best of
-these poems is the one beginning: El mio Cid (vide Ticknor). Though
-incomplete, it constitutes a real epic poem, and if examined in detail
-appears to have been written at the beginning of the twelfth century.
-Three contemporary works have reached us: “La Vida de Santa Maria
-Egipciaca,” “El Libro de los tres reyes d’Orient,” and “Los tres reyes
-magos.” The first two were evidently written under a French influence;
-“Los tres reyes magos” was written for recital in a church.</p>
-
-<p>The same intellectual development appears in Spain in the thirteenth
-century as in Italy and France. The universities of Palencia and
-Salamanca contributed toward it. The tendency of the writers of this
-period is to imitate classic authors. A priest, Gonzalo de Berceo, is
-the first poet of any importance in the thirteenth century, 1230: he
-wrote a large number of verses on religious subjects. His poem to the
-Virgin contains some poetical passages. Two poems appeared shortly
-afterward, “El Libro de Apollonio” and “El Libro de Alexandre,” by J.
-Lorenzo Segura, adapted from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_372" id="page_372">{372}</a></span> the history of Alexandre Le Grand, by
-Chatillon. The poem “Fernan Gonzalez” is of the same period: it is free
-from foreign influence. Prose is improved at the beginning of the
-century by the translation from Latin of the “Fuero Juzgo,” and other
-historical and didactical works.</p>
-
-<p>Don Alonso el Sabio, 1221-1284, absorbs the scientific and literary life
-of Spain during his time: the most eminent of his countrymen, Spaniards,
-Jews and Moors, gathered round him. So many works have appeared under
-his name that it is incredible they should all have been written by him.
-Probably only the poems, “Las Querellas,” written in the Castilian
-dialect, are his. An extensive Universal History, the first written in
-Europe in a vernacular language; the “Leyes de Partidas,” a series of
-legal works; “El Saber de Astronomia,” a cyclopedia of this science as
-it stood at that time; the “Cantigas,” a poem containing upward of four
-hundred compositions to the Virgin, written in the Galician dialect and
-in the Provençal style, and several other works, have passed hitherto as
-proceeding from his pen.</p>
-
-<p>Don Sancho el Bravo, a son of Don Alonso, wrote the “Lucidario” and
-“Libro de los Castigos,” a moral treatise dedicated to his son. The
-“Libro del Tesoro” and “La Gran Conquista de Ultramar” were translated
-at his instigation from the Latin. The Infante, Don Juan Manuel, 1282, a
-nephew of Don Alonso, wrote several works on different subjects. The
-finest is the interesting collection of fables, “El Conde Lucanor.” They
-are earlier than the Decameron or Canterbury Tales.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish poetry revived in the fourteenth century. The archpriest of
-Hita, 1330-1343, wrote thousands of verses on different subjects. Rabbi
-Don Santob, 1850, a Spanish Jew,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_373" id="page_373">{373}</a></span> dedicated to his friend, King Peter
-the Cruel, his principal poetical works. The best is on the “Danza de la
-Muerte,” a favorite subject of that time. Pero Lopez de Ayala,
-1372-1407, who wrote the “Rimado de Palacio,” and Rodrigo Yanez, the
-author of the “Poema de Alonso XI.,” end the series of poets of the
-fourteenth century. Romances of chivalry became popular in Spain in the
-fifteenth century: their popularity lasted until the sixteenth, when
-Cervantes published his “Don Quixote.” “Amadis de Gaula” was the first
-work of importance of this kind; “Palmerin de Oliva,” etc., follow it.
-The Coronicas belong to this period. They are semi-historical
-narratives, in which the leading events of each reign are described.</p>
-
-<p>Provençal style was introduced into Spain early in the fifteenth
-century. It became very popular owing to the patronage of Don Juan II.,
-1407-1454. The most important courtiers imitated the king’s example, and
-poems have reached us by Don Alvaro de Luna, Don Alonso de Cartagena and
-others. The Marquis of Villena and Macias belong to this period. Fernan
-Perez de Guzman wrote at this time his “Livros de los claros varones de
-España,” and Juan de Mena, an excellent poet, his “Laberynto” and
-“Dialogo de los siete Pecados mortales.” The last poet of the reign of
-Don Juan II. is the Marquis of Santillana. Several wrote late in the
-century: the most excellent among them being Jorge Manrique, whose
-“Coplas” on the death of his father are admirable. Novels begin at this
-time, generally copied from Italian models. The finest is “La
-Celestina,” written in acts like a drama, one of the best works in
-Spanish literature.</p>
-
-<p>Romances or ballads are the most original form of Span<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_374" id="page_374">{374}</a></span>ish poetry. They
-constitute the popular epic poem, and are the most spontaneous
-productions of the Spanish language.</p>
-
-<p>The revival of literature coincides in Spain with the period of its
-greatest power and prosperity. The early part of the sixteenth century
-is called “el Siglo de oro.” An Italian influence is predominant.
-Castillejo keeps to the earlier style in his charming compositions:
-“Dialogo entre el autor y su pluma,” and “Sermones de Amores.” Boscan
-and Garcilaso were the first to introduce the Italian measure into
-Spanish verse. Some poets wrote in both these styles. Gregorio Sylvestre
-is among the best of them; an excellent poet, but very little known.</p>
-
-<p>Garcilaso was the earliest lyrical poet, 1503-1536. His verses are pure
-in style, in the manner of Virgil and Horace. His life is interesting:
-he fought by the side of Charles V., and was killed at the assault of
-the fortress of Frejus (Nice). One of his contemporaries, Hurtado de
-Mendoza, a soldier and statesman, popularized classical studies. His
-best works are the “Rebellion de los Moriscos” and the well-known
-“Lazarillo de Tormes.” The classical style is now universally adopted in
-Spain. Fray Luis de Leon was undoubtedly the best poet of this period.
-His ode on the “Ascension” and his “Poema a la Virgen” may certainly be
-reckoned among the best compositions in the language. Several poets of
-an inferior order belong to the sixteenth century. Cesina, Acuna,
-Figueroa, Medrano, La Torre, Mesa and Alcazar are among the best. Their
-works are clever in parts, but are generally unequal. This
-characteristic becomes a leading feature in Spanish poetry. At the end
-of the seventeenth century lyrics began to decay, but no author carried
-affectation and exaggeration to such a height as Gongora, 1561-1627: a
-gifted<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_375" id="page_375">{375}</a></span> poet, full of charm in his simple compositions (vide
-translations by Archdeacon Churton), though most obscure in his
-“Soledades” and “Polifemo.” This style was called in Spain culteranismo,
-and not even the best dramatic authors of the seventeenth century were
-free from its defects. The imitators of Gongora continued until the
-eighteenth century, although here and there a poet like Rioja tried to
-check the movement.</p>
-
-<p>Epic poetry in Spain is inferior to the dramatic and lyrical styles. The
-specimens which exist are old and devoid of inspiration. “El
-Monserrate,” by Virues; “La Cristiada,” by Hojeda; “La Vida de San
-Jose,” by Valdivieso, and “El Bernardo,” by Balbuena, may be quoted as
-examples. “La Araucana,” by Ercilla, contains some poetical passages,
-but in general is hardly more than a historical narrative. “La
-Gatomaquia,” by Lope de Vega, though a burlesque, is considered by many
-critics the best epic poem in the Spanish language.</p>
-
-<p>Dramatic literature unites, perhaps, the highest conditions of
-originality and power. Its earliest productions are the liturgical
-representations of the Middle Ages, “Misterios” or “Autos.” Although
-works of this kind are mentioned as early as the thirteenth century, the
-first which have a distinct dramatic character are the “Coplas de Mingo
-Revulgo” and “El Dialogo entre el Amor y un viejo.” These compositions
-were written under the reign of Henry IV. At the latter part of the
-fifteenth century a series of dramatic works already existed. Juan de la
-Encina began the history of the Spanish drama. Lucas Fernandez was a
-contemporary writer, and shortly afterward Gil Vicente. Torres Naharro,
-1517, published his “Propaladia,” which contains eight comedies. Lope de
-Rueda founded the modern school, and he is imi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_376" id="page_376">{376}</a></span>tated and improved by his
-followers. The drama does not attain its highest importance until Lope
-de Vega (1562-1635), the most prolific of Spanish poets. He tells us he
-had written fifteen hundred plays, without counting “Autos” and
-“Entremeses.” Cervantes says that forty companies of actors existed at
-this time in Madrid alone, consisting of no less than one thousand
-actors. In 1636, three hundred companies of actors appeared in different
-parts of Spain. Lope de Vega is rather unequal as a dramatic author;
-but “El mejor Alcalde el rey,” “La Estrella de Sevilla,” “La dama boba,”
-and “La moza de cantaro,” entitle him to rank among the best European
-dramatists. Three authors share Lope’s glory, Tirso, Calderon and
-Alarcon.</p>
-
-<p>No Spanish dramatist has surpassed Tirso in his facility of treating the
-most varied subjects in admirable versification. His comedy of “Don Gil
-de las calzas verdes” is as good as his dramas of “El Rey Don Pedro en
-Madrid,” “El condenado por desconfiado,” or “El convidado de piedra.”
-The popular type of Don Juan is taken from this drama. Alarcon is
-undoubtedly the most philosophical Spanish dramatist. His comedy, “Las
-paredes oyen,” is admirable, and “La verdad sospechosa,” so much admired
-by Corneille, as he tells us himself, when he took the plot for his
-“Menteur.” Calderon is the most popular dramatic author. He idealizes
-more than his predecessors, and his genius embraces the most varied
-subjects. His comedies are charming; as examples, “La dama duende” and
-“Casa con dos puertas” are among the best. “El medico de su honra” is
-full of dramatic power, and nothing can be more poetical than “La Vida
-es sueno” (vide MacCarthy’s translations). The best imitators of the
-great dramatists are Rojas and Moreto: “Garcia del Casta<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_377" id="page_377">{377}</a></span>nar,” by the
-former, and “Desden con el Desden” of the latter, are equal to the
-dramas of the great masters.</p>
-
-<p>The earliest Spanish novels are “Lazarillo de Tonnes,” by Hurtado de
-Mendoza, and the “Diana Enamorada,” by Monte Mayor. They are followed by
-“El Picaro Guzman de Alfarache” and “El Escudero Marcos de Obregon,” by
-Aleman and Espinel. A great number of novels were written in the
-following century, but were all eclipsed by Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,”
-which is too well known to need any comment.</p>
-
-<p>Several authors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries cultivated
-different literary styles. Quevedo is the most remarkable of them. He
-was the quaintest and most original of humorists. He wrote a number of
-works of real merit, none of which has been so popular as his “Satiras”
-in prose and verse.</p>
-
-<p>Political and moralist writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
-centuries are very numerous. Of these Guevara, Sta. Teresa, Fray Luis de
-Granada, Gracian, Saavedra Fajardo, Mariana, Morales, Zurita, and Solis
-are the most remarkable.</p>
-
-<p>The end of the seventeenth century was the worst period of Spanish
-literature. Philip V., the first king of the House of Bourbon, 1700, did
-his utmost to improve the intellectual culture of the country. The
-Biblioteca Real was founded in 1711, and the Academias de la Lengua,
-Historia, and Bellas Artes in 1714; several literary reviews also
-appeared. The best poets of this period are Antonio de Toledo and
-Gerardo Lobo. The only productions, however, of any literary merit are
-the critical works of Flores, Masdeu, Mayans and others. During the
-reign of Charles III., 1759-1788, Melendez wrote some tolerable verses.
-He is followed by Fr. Diego Gon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_378" id="page_378">{378}</a></span>zalez, Cienfuegos, Nicolas de Moratin
-and others. The most original writers of the end of the eighteenth
-century are, however, undoubtedly Leandro Moratin and Ramon. The two
-comedies, “El Si de las ninas” and “El Cafe,” by the former, are
-charming, and the “Sainetes,” by De la Cruz, in the manner of Plautus,
-continue to be very popular in Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Spanish literature of the present century possesses no definite
-character, although several writers can bear comparison with the best
-Spanish authors of other periods. Every school and style has been
-copied: Byron, Schiller, Goethe, Victor Hugo, and Dumas. The earliest
-author of any importance is Quintana, a correct and inspired poet. His
-odes on “La Imprenta,” “Panteon del Escorial,” and “Batalla de
-Trafalgar” are very good. Martinez de la Rosa, Lista, and Nicasio
-Gallegos form a group of able versifiers. Espronceda is a constant
-imitator of Byron, although his legend of “El Estudiante de Salamanca”
-is original, and a very fine composition. Zorrilla is the best
-representative of the romantic school of 1830-40: his works are
-sometimes unequal, and his legends are his best lyrical compositions.
-His finest dramas are “Don Juan Tenorio” and “El Zapatero y el Rey.” The
-“Romances” and drama of “Don Alvaro de Luna,” by the Duke of Rivas, have
-been very popular; but no author is so deservingly so as Breton de los
-Herreres, an excellent writer, who has left behind nearly one hundred
-comedies, some of which, “Marcela,” “Muerete y veras,” “El pelo de la
-dehesa,” etc., are perfect in their way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_379" id="page_379">{379}</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III<br /><br /><i>SPORT</i></h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Bull-fight, or rather Bull Feast (Fiesta de Toros), is a modern
-sport. Bulls were killed in ancient amphitheaters, but the present modus
-operandi is modern, and, however based on Roman institutions, is
-indubitably a thing devised by the Moors of Spain, for those in Africa
-have neither the sport, the ring, nor the recollection. The principle
-was the exhibition of horsemanship, courage and dexterity with the
-lance; for in the early bull-fight the animal was attacked by gentlemen
-armed only with the Rejon, a short projectile spear about four feet
-long. This was taken from the original Iberian spear, the Sparus of Sil.
-Ital. (viii. 523), the Lancea of Livy (xxxiv. 15), and is seen in the
-hands of the horsemen of the old Romano-Iberian coinage. To be a good
-rider and lancer was essential to the Spanish Caballero. This original
-form of bull-fight (now only given on grand occasions) is called a
-Fiesta Real. Such a one Philip IV. exhibited on the Plaza Mayor of
-Madrid before Charles I. of England; Ferdinand VII. in 1833, at the
-ratification of the Juramento, the swearing allegiance to Isabella II.;
-and Alfonso XII., on his marriages, January 23, 1878, and November 29,
-1879.</p>
-
-<p>These Fiestas Reales form the coronation ceremonial of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_380" id="page_380">{380}</a></span> Spain, and the
-Caballeros en Plaza represent our champions. Bulls were killed, but no
-beef eaten; as a banquet was never a thing of Iberia.</p>
-
-<p>The final conquest of the Moors, and the subsequent cessation of the
-border chivalrous habits of Spaniards, and especially the accession of
-Philip V., proved fatal to this ancient usage of Spain. The spectacle,
-which had withstood the influence of Isabella the Catholic, and had
-beaten the Pope’s Bulls, bowed before the despotism of fashion, and by
-becoming the game of professionals instead of that of gentlemen it was
-stripped of its chivalrous character, and degenerated into the vulgar
-butchery of low mercenary bull-fighters, just as did the rings and
-tournaments of chivalry into those of ruffian pugilists.</p>
-
-<p>The Spanish bulls have been immemorially famous. Hercules, that renowned
-cattle-fancier, was lured into Spain by the lowing of the herds of
-Geryon, the ancestor (se dice) of the Duque de Osuna. The best bulls in
-Andalusia are bred by Cabrera at Utrera, in the identical pastures where
-Geryon’s herds were pastured and “lifted” by the demigod, whence,
-according to Strabo (iii. 169), they were obliged, after fifty days’
-feeding, to be driven off from fear of bursting from fat. Some of the
-finest Castilian bulls, such as appear at Madrid, are bred on the
-Jarama, near Aranjuez.</p>
-
-<p>Bull-fights are extremely expensive, costing from one thousand five
-hundred dollars to two thousand dollars apiece; accordingly, except in
-the chief capitals and Andalusia, they are only got up now and then, on
-great church festivals and upon royal and public rejoicings. As
-Andalusia is the headquarters of the ring, and Seville the capital, the
-alma mater of the tauromachists of the Peninsula, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_381" id="page_381">{381}</a></span> necessity of
-sending to a distance for artists and animals increases the expense. The
-prices of admittance, compared to the wages of labor in Spain, are high.</p>
-
-<p>The profits of the bull-fight are usually destined for the support of
-hospitals, and, certainly, the fever and the frays subsequent to the
-show provide patients as well as funds. The Plaza is usually under the
-superintendence of a society of noblemen and gentlemen, called
-Maestranzas, instituted in 1562, by Philip II., in the hope of improving
-the breed of Spanish horses and men-at-arms.</p>
-
-<p>The first thing is to secure a good place beforehand, by sending for a
-Boletin de Sombra, a “ticket in the shade.” The prices of the seats vary
-according to position; the best places are on the northern side, in the
-shade. The transit of the sun over the Plaza, the zodiacal progress into
-Taurus, is certainly not the worst calculated astronomical observation
-in Spain: the line of shadow defined on the arena is marked by a
-gradation of prices. The sun of torrid, tawny Spain, on which it once
-never set, is not to be trifled with, and the summer season is selected,
-because pastures are plentiful, which keep the bulls in good condition,
-and the days are longer. The fights take place in the afternoon, when
-the sun is less vertical. The different seats and prices are detailed in
-the bills of the play, with the names of the combatants, and the colors
-and breeds of the bulls.</p>
-
-<p>The day before the fight the bulls destined for the spectacle are
-brought to a site outside the town. No amateur should fail to ride out
-to the pastures from whence the cattle (ganado) are selected. The
-encierro, the driving them from this place to the arena, is a service of
-danger, but is extremely picturesque and national. No artist or
-aficionado<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_382" id="page_382">{382}</a></span> should omit attending it The bulls are enticed by tame oxen,
-cabestros, into a road which is barricaded on each side, and then are
-driven full speed by the mounted conocedores into the Plaza. It is so
-exciting a spectacle that the poor who cannot afford to go to the
-bull-fight risk their lives and cloaks in order to get the front places,
-and the best chance of a stray poke en passant.</p>
-
-<p>The next afternoon (Sunday is usually the day) all the world crowds to
-the Plaza de toros; nothing, when the tide is full, can exceed the
-gayety and sparkle of a Spanish public going, eager and dressed in their
-best, to the fight. All the streets or open spaces near the outside of
-the arena are a spectacle. The bull-fight is to Madrid what a review is
-to Paris, and the Derby to London. Sporting men now put on all their
-majo-finery; the distinguished ladies wear on these occasions white lace
-mantillas; a fan, abanico, is quite necessary, as it was among the
-Romans. The aficionados and “the gods” prefer the pit, tendido, the
-lower range, in order, by being nearer, that they may not lose the nice
-traits of tauromaquia. The Plaza has a language to itself, a dialect
-peculiar to the ring. The coup d’œil on entrance is unique; the
-classical scene bursts on the foreigner in all the glory of the south,
-and he is carried back to the Coliseum under Commodus. The president
-sits in the center box. The proceedings open with the procession of the
-performers, the mounted spearmen, picadores; then follow the chulos, the
-attendants on foot, who wear their silk cloaks, capas de durancillo, in
-a peculiar manner, with the arms projecting in front; and, lastly, the
-slayers, the espadas, and the splendid mule-team, el tiro, which is
-destined to carry off the slain. The profession of bull-fighter is very
-low-caste in Spain, although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_383" id="page_383">{383}</a></span> champions are much courted by some
-young nobles, like the British blackguard boxers, and are the pride and
-darlings of all the lower classes. Those killed on the spot were
-formerly denied the burial rites, as dying without confession, but a
-priest is now in attendance with Su Magestad (the consecrated Host),
-ready to give always spiritual assistance to a dying combatant.</p>
-
-<p>When all the bull-fighting company have advanced and passed the
-president, a trumpet sounds; the president throws the key of the cell of
-the bull to the alguacil or policeman, which he ought to catch in his
-feathered hat. The different performers now take their places as
-fielders do at a cricket match. The bull-fight is a tragedy in three
-acts, lasts about twenty minutes, and each consists of precisely the
-same routine. From six to eight bulls are usually killed during each
-“funcion”; occasionally another is conceded to popular clamor, which
-here will take no denial.</p>
-
-<p>When the door of the cell is opened, the public curiosity to see the
-first rush out is intense; and as none knows whether the bull will
-behave well or ill, all are anxious to judge of his character from the
-way he behaves upon first entering the ring. The animal, turned from his
-dark cell into glare and crowd, feels the novelty of his position; but
-is happily ignorant of his fate, for die he must, however skillful or
-brave his fight. This death does not diminish the sustained interest of
-the spectators as the varied chances in the progress of the acts offer
-infinite incidents and unexpected combinations. In the first of the
-three acts the picadores are the chief performers; three of them are now
-drawn up, one behind the other, to the right, at the tablas, the barrier
-between the arena and spectators; each sits bolt upright on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_384" id="page_384">{384}</a></span>
-Rosinante, with his lance in rest, and as valiant as Don Quixote. They
-wear the broad-brimmed Thessalian hat; their legs are cased with iron
-and leather, which gives a heavy look; and the right one, which is
-presented to the bull, is the best protected. This greave is termed la
-mona&mdash;the more scientific name is gregoriana, from the inventor, Don
-Gregorio Gallo&mdash;just as we say a spencer, from the noble earl. The
-spear, garrocha, is defensive rather than offensive; the blade ought not
-to exceed one inch; the sheathing is, however, pushed back when the
-picador anticipates an awkward customer. When the bull charges, the
-picador, holding the lance under his right arm, pushes to the right, and
-turns his horse to the left; the bull, if turned, passes on to the next
-picador. This is called recibir, to receive the point. If a bull is
-turned at the first charge, he seldom comes up well again. A bold bull
-is sometimes cold and shy at first, but grows warmer by being punished.
-Those who are very active, those who paw the ground, are not much
-esteemed; they are hooted by the populace, and execrated as goats,
-little calves, cows, which is no compliment to a bull; and, however
-unskilled in bucolics, all Spaniards are capital judges of bulls in the
-ring. Such animals as show the white feather are loathed, as depriving
-the public of their just rights, and are treated with insult, and,
-moreover, soundly beaten as they pass near the tablas, by forests of
-sticks, la cachiporra. The stick of the elegant majo, when going to the
-bull-fight, is sui generis, and is called la chivata; taper, and between
-four and five feet long, it terminates in a lump or knob, while the top
-is forked, into which the thumb is inserted. This chivata is peeled,
-like the rods of Laban, in alternate rings, black and white or red. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_385" id="page_385">{385}</a></span>
-lower classes content themselves with a common shillalah; one with a
-knob at the end is preferred, as administering a more impressive whack.
-While a slow bull is beaten and abused, a murderous bull, duro chocante
-carnicero y pegajoso, who kills horses, upsets men, and clears the
-plaza, becomes deservedly a universal favorite; the conquering hero is
-hailed with “Viva toro! viva toro! bravo toro!” Long life is wished to
-the poor beast by those who know he must be killed in ten minutes.</p>
-
-<p>The horses destined for the plaza are of no value; this renders
-Spaniards, who have an eye chiefly to what a thing is worth, indifferent
-to their sufferings. If you remark how cruel it is to “let that poor
-horse struggle in death’s agonies,” they will say, “Ah que! na vale na”
-(“Oh! he is worth nothing”). When his tail quivers in the last
-death-struggle, the spasm is remarked as a jest, mira que cola! The
-torture of the horse is the blot of the bull-fight: no lover of the
-noble beast can witness his sufferings without disgust; the fact of
-these animals being worth nothing in a money point of view increases the
-danger to the rider; it renders them slow, difficult to manage, and very
-unlike those of the ancient combats, when the finest steeds were chosen,
-quick as lightning, turning at touch, and escaping the deadly rush: the
-eyes of these poor animals, who would not otherwise face the bull, are
-bound with a handkerchief like criminals about to be executed; thus they
-await blindfold the fatal rip which is to end their life of misery. If
-only wounded, the gash is sewed up and stopped with tow, as a leak! and
-life is prolonged for new agonies. When the poor brute is dead at last,
-his carcass is stripped as in a battle. The high-class Spaniard admits
-and regrets the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_386" id="page_386">{386}</a></span> cruelty to the horses, but justifies it as a necessity.
-The bull, says he, is a tame, almost a domestic animal, and would never
-fight at all unless first roused by the sight of blood. The wretched
-horse is employed for this purpose as a corpus vile; and the bull,
-having gored him once or twice, becomes “game.”</p>
-
-<p>The picadores are subject to hair-breadth escapes and severe falls: few
-have a sound rib left. The bull often tosses horse and rider in one run;
-and when the victims fall on the ground, exhausts his rage on his
-prostrate enemies, till lured away by the glittering cloaks of the
-chulos, who come to the assistance of the fallen picador. These horsemen
-often show marvelous skill in managing to place their horses as a
-rampart between them and the bull. When these deadly struggles take
-place, when life hangs on a thread, the amphitheater is peopled with
-heads. Every expression of anxiety, eagerness, fear, horror, and delight
-is stamped on speaking countenances. These feelings are wrought up to a
-pitch when the horse, maddened with wounds and terror, plunging in the
-death-struggle, the crimson streams of blood streaking his
-sweat-whitened body, flies from the infuriated bull, still pursuing,
-still goring: then is displayed the nerve, presence of mind, and
-horsemanship of the undismayed picador. It is, in truth, a piteous sight
-to see the poor dying horses treading out their entrails, yet saving
-their riders unhurt. The miserable steed, when dead, is dragged out,
-leaving a bloody furrow on the sand. The picador, if wounded, is carried
-out and forgotten&mdash;los muertos y idos, no tienen amigos (the dead and
-absent have no friends)&mdash;a new combatant fills the gap, the battle
-rages, he is not missed, fresh incidents arise, and no time is left for
-regret or reflection. The bull bears<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_387" id="page_387">{387}</a></span> on his neck a ribbon, la devisa;
-this is the trophy which is most acceptable to the querida of a buen
-torero. The bull is the hero of the scene, yet, like Milton’s Satan, he
-is foredoomed and without reprieve. Nothing can save him from the
-certain fate which awaits all, whether brave or cowardly. The poor
-creatures sometimes endeavor in vain to escape, and leap over the
-barrier (barrera) into the tendido, among the spectators, upsetting
-sentinels, water-sellers, etc., and creating a most amusing hubbub. The
-bull which shows this craven turn&mdash;un tunante cobarde picaro&mdash;is not
-deemed worthy of a noble death, by the sword. He is baited, pulled down,
-and stabbed in the spine. A bull that flinches from death is scouted by
-all Spaniards, who neither beg for their own life nor spare that of a
-foe.</p>
-
-<p>At the signal of the president, and sound of a trumpet, the second act
-commences with the chulos. This word chulo signifies, in the Arabic, a
-lad, a clown, as at our circus. They are picked young men, who commence
-in these parts their tauromachian career. The duty of this light
-division is to draw off the bull from the picador when endangered, which
-they do with their colored cloaks; their address and agility are
-surprising, they skim over the sand like glittering humming-birds,
-scarcely touching the earth. They are dressed, á lo majo, in short
-breeches, and without gaiters, just like Figaro in the opera of the
-“Barbiere de Sevilla.” Their hair is tied into a knot behind, mono, and
-inclosed in the once universal silk net, the redecilla&mdash;the identical
-reticulum&mdash;of which so many instances are seen on ancient Etruscan
-vases. No bull-fighter ever arrives at the top of his profession without
-first excelling as a chulo (apprentice); then he begins to be taught how
-to entice the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_388" id="page_388">{388}</a></span> bull, llamar al toro, and to learn his mode of attack,
-and how to parry it. The most dangerous moment is when these chulos
-venture out into the middle of the plaza, and are followed by the bull
-to the barrier, in which there is a small ledge, on which they place
-their foot and vault over, and a narrow slit in the boarding, through
-which they slip. Their escapes are marvelous; they seem really
-sometimes, so close is the run, to be helped over the fence by the
-bull’s horns. Occasionally some curious suertes are exhibited by chulos
-and expert toreros, which do not strictly belong to the regular drama;
-such as the suerte de la capa, where the bull is braved with no other
-defense but a cloak; another, the salto tras cuerno, when the performer,
-as the bull lowers his head to toss him, places his foot between his
-horns and is lifted over him. The chulos, in the second act, are the
-sole performers; another exclusive part is to place small barbed darts,
-banderillas, which are ornamented with cut paper of different colors, on
-each side of the neck of the bull. The banderilleros go right up to him,
-holding the arrows at the shaft’s end, and pointing the barbs at the
-bull; just when the animal stoops to toss them, they dart them into his
-neck and slip aside. The service appears to be more dangerous than it
-is, but it requires a quick eye, a light hand and foot. The barbs should
-be placed exactly on each side&mdash;a pretty pair, a good match&mdash;buenos
-pares. Sometimes these arrows are provided with crackers, which, by
-means of a detonating powder, explode the moment they are affixed in the
-neck, banderillas de fuego. The agony of the tortured animal frequently
-makes him bound like a kid, to the frantic delight of the people. A very
-clever banderillero will some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_389" id="page_389">{389}</a></span>times seat himself in a chair, wait for
-the bull’s approach, plant the arrows in his neck, and slip away,
-leaving the chair to be tossed into the air. This feat is uncommon, and
-gains immense applause.</p>
-
-<p>The last trumpet now sounds; the arena is cleared for the third act; the
-espada, the executioner, the man of death, stands before his victim
-alone, and thus concentrates in himself an interest previously frittered
-among the number of combatants. On entering, he addresses the president,
-and throws his montera, his cap, to the ground, and swears he will do
-his duty. In his right hand he holds a long straight Toledan blade, la
-spada; in his left he waves the muleta, the red flag, the engano, the
-lure, which ought not (so Romero laid down) to be so large as the
-standard of a religious brotherhood (cofradia), nor so small as a lady’s
-pocket-handkerchief (panuelito de senorita): it should be about a yard
-square. The color is red, because that best irritates the bull and
-conceals blood. There is always a spare matador, in case of accidents,
-which may happen in the best regulated bull-fights; he is called media
-espada, or sobresaliente. The espada (el diestro, the cunning in fence
-in olden books) advances to the bull, in order to entice him toward
-him&mdash;citarlo á la suerte, á la jurisdiccion del engano&mdash;to subpœna him,
-to get his head into chancery, as our ring would say; he next rapidly
-studies his character, plays with him a little, allows him to run once
-or twice on the muleta, and then prepares for the coup de grace. There
-are several sorts of bulls&mdash;levantados, the bold and rushing; parados,
-the slow and sly; aplomados, the heavy and leaden. The bold are the
-easiest to kill; they rush, shutting their eyes, right on to the lure or
-flag. The worst of all are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_390" id="page_390">{390}</a></span> sly bulls; when they are marrajos,
-cunning and not running straight, when they are revueltos, when they
-stop in their charge and run at the man instead of the flag, they are
-most dangerous. The espada who is long killing his bull, or shows the
-white feather, is insulted by the jeers of the impatient populace; he
-nevertheless remains cool and collected, in proportion as the spectators
-and bull are mad. There are many suertes or ways of killing the bull;
-the principal is la suerte de frente&mdash;the espada receives the charge on
-his sword, lo mato de un recibido. The volapie, or half-volley, is
-beautiful, but dangerous; the matador takes him by advancing,
-corriendoselo. A firm hand, eye, and nerve form the essence of the art;
-the sword enters just between the left shoulder and the blade. In
-nothing is the real fancy so fastidious as in the exact nicety of the
-placing this death-wound; when the thrust is true&mdash;buen estoque&mdash;death
-is instantaneous, and the bull, vomiting forth blood, drops at the feet
-of his conqueror, who, drawing the sword, waves it in triumph over the
-fallen foe. It is indeed the triumph of knowledge over brute force; all
-that was fire, fury, passion, and life, falls in an instant, still
-forever.</p>
-
-<p>The team of mules now enter, glittering with flags, and tinkling with
-bells, whose gay decorations contrast with the stern cruelty and blood;
-the dead bull is carried off at a rapid gallop, which always delights
-the populace. The espada wipes the hot blood from his sword, and bows
-with admirable sangfroid to the spectators, who throw their hats into
-the arena, a compliment which he returns by throwing them back again.</p>
-
-<p>When a bull will not run at all at the picador, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_391" id="page_391">{391}</a></span> at the muleta, he is
-called a toro abanto, and the media luna, the half-moon, is called for;
-this is the cruel ancient Oriental mode of houghing the cattle (Joshua
-xi. 6). The instrument is the Iberian bident&mdash;a sharp steel crescent
-placed in a long pole. The cowardly blow is given from behind; and when
-the poor beast is crippled, an assistant, the cachetero, pierces the
-spinal marrow with his cachete&mdash;puntilla, or pointed dagger&mdash;with a
-traitorous stab from behind. This is the usual method of slaughtering
-cattle in Spain. To perform all these operations (el desjarretar) is
-considered beneath the dignity of the matadores or espadas; some of
-them, however, will kill the bull by plunging the point of their sword
-in the vertebræ, el descabellar&mdash;the danger gives dignity to the
-difficult feat. The identical process obtains in each of the fights that
-follow. After a short collapse, a fresh object raises a new desire, and
-the fierce sport is renewed through eight repetitions; and not till
-darkness covers the heavens do the mob retire to sacrifice the rest of
-the night to Bacchus and Venus, with a passing homage to the knife.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_393" id="page_393">{393}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_392" id="page_392">{392}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX</h2>
-
-<p class="cb">CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="margin:1em 10em;font-size:80%;">
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cb">NO. I</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carthaginian Domination in Spain&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </td><td class="rt">238 to 200 <small>B.C.</small></td></tr>
-<tr><td>Roman Domination</td><td class="rt">200 <small>B.C.</small> to 414 <small>A.D.</small></td></tr>
-<tr><td>Visigothic Domination</td><td class="rt">414 <small>A.D.</small> to 711 <small>A.D.</small></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="margin:1em 10em;font-size:80%;">
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Visigothic Kings</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="rt">A.D.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ataulfo</td><td class="rt">414, D. 417</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sigerico</td><td class="rt">417</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Walia</td><td class="rt">420</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Teodoredo</td><td class="rt">451</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Turismundo</td><td class="rt">454</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Teodorico</td><td class="rt">466</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Eurico</td><td class="rt">483</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="c">This king, after conquering the Suevi and other races, is
-considered he founder of the monarchy.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Alarico</td><td class="rt">D. 505</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Gesaleico</td><td class="rt">510</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Amalarico</td><td class="rt">531</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Teudis</td><td class="rt">548</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Teudiselo</td><td class="rt">549</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Agila</td><td class="rt">554</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Atanagildo</td><td class="rt">567</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Liuva I.</td><td class="rt">572</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Leovigildo</td><td class="rt">586</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">After destroying the barbarians that still remained in the country,
-he was the first king who ruled over the whole of the Peninsula.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Recaredo I.</td><td class="rt">601</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Summoned the 3d Council of Toledo, renounced Arianism, and became
-the first Catholic king of Spain.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Liuva II.</td><td class="rt">603</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Witerico</td><td class="rt">610</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Gundemaro</td><td class="rt">612</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sisebuto</td><td class="rt">621</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Recaredo II.</td><td class="rt">621</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Suintila</td><td class="rt">631</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sisenando</td><td class="rt">635</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Tulga</td><td class="rt">640</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Chindasvinto</td><td class="rt">650</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Recesvinto</td><td class="rt">672</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Wamba</td><td class="rt">680</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ervigio</td><td class="rt">687</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Egica</td><td class="rt">701</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Witiza</td><td class="rt">709</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Don Rodrigo</td><td class="rt">711</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">The Moors entered Spain and defeated Don Rodrigo at the battle of
-Guadalete, who disappeared there. The Moors occupied in the two
-following years almost the whole of the Peninsula, and governed
-under the dependence of the Caliphs of Damascus.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Moorish Rulers in Spain</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="pdd">Emirs dependent on the
- Caliphs of Damascus</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">711-715</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="pdd">Independent Caliphate established
- by the Ommeyah
- family, the capital being
- Cordova</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">755-1009</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="pdd">Kings of Taifas, governors
- of the provinces which declared
- themselves independent
- during the last
- Caliphate, Hischen II.</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1009-1090</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="pdd">The Almoravides from Africa
- established themselves
- in the Moorish territory
- of the Peninsula</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1090-1157</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="pdd">The Almohades conquered
- the Almoravides</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1157-1212</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="pdd">Kings of Granada. The
- Moorish domination is
- reduced to the kingdom
- of Granada</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1226-1492</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">The rule of the Moors in Spain ends in 1492, at the conquest of
-Granada.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Kings of Asturias, Leon, and Castile</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Pelayo (the re-conquest begins)</td><td class="rt">718, D. 737</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Favila</td><td class="rt">739</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alonso I., el Catolico</td><td class="rt">757</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Favila I. (fixes his Court at Oviedo)</td><td class="rt">768</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Aurelio</td><td class="rt">774</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Silo</td><td class="rt">783</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Mauregato</td><td class="rt">788</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Bermudo I., el Diacono</td><td class="rt">795</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alonso II., el Casto</td><td class="rt">843</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramiro I.</td><td class="rt">850</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ordoño I.</td><td class="rt">865</td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_394" id="page_394">{394}</a></span>
-Alonso III., el Magno</td><td class="rt">910</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Divided the kingdom of Galicia, Leon, and Asturias, among his sons,
-the three following kings.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Garcia</td><td class="rt">913</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ordoño II.</td><td class="rt">923</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fruela II.</td><td class="rt">924</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Ordoño fixed his Court at Leon, and here end the named kings or
-Asturias.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Alonso IV., el Monge</td><td class="rt">930</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramiro II.</td><td class="rt">950</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ordoño III.</td><td class="rt">955</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho I., el Craso</td><td class="rt">967</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramiro III.</td><td class="rt">982</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Bermudo II.</td><td class="rt">999</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alonso V., el Noble</td><td class="rt">1028</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Bermudo III.</td><td class="rt">1037</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">The territory of Castile, which formed a separate state, governed
-by <i>Condes</i>, passed to Dona Sancha and Don Fernando I., who
-entitled themselves Kings of Castile and Leon.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Fernando I. and Dona Sancha</td><td class="rt">1065</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho II., el Fuerte</td><td class="rt">1073</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso VI.</td><td class="rt">1108</td></tr>
-<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Conquered Toledo in 1085.)</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td>Dona Urraca</td><td class="rt">1126</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso VII., el Emperador</td><td class="rt">1157</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">At his death the kingdoms of Castile and Leon are divided among the
-six following kings:</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Sancho III. (Castilla)</td><td class="rt">1158</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando II. (Leon)</td><td class="rt">1188</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso VIII. (Castilla)</td><td class="rt">1214</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso IX. (Leon)</td><td class="rt">1230</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Enrique I. (Castilla)</td><td class="rt">1217</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Dona Berenguela, who abdicated the crown of Castile in favor of her
-son, Fernando III., who inherited also the crown of Leon from his
-father, Alfonso IX.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Fernando III., King of Castile and Leon</td> <td class="rt">1252</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">He conquered Cordova, Jaen, and Seville.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Alonso X., el Sabio</td><td class="rt">1284</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho IV., el Bravo</td><td class="rt">1295</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando IV., el Emplazado</td><td class="rt">1312</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alonso XI.</td><td class="rt">1350</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Pedro I., el Cruel</td><td class="rt">1369</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Enrique II., el Bastardo</td><td class="rt">1379</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juan I.</td><td class="rt">1390</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Enrique III., el Doliente</td><td class="rt">1407</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juan II.</td><td class="rt">1454</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Enrique IV., el Impotente</td><td class="rt">1474</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Dona Isabel, la Catolica</td><td class="rt">1504</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando V. de Aragon</td><td class="rt">1516</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Dona Juana, la loca</td><td class="rt">1555</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe I., el Hermoso, first king of the house of Austria</td><td class="rt">1505</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos V., Emperador</td><td class="rt">1558</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe II.</td><td class="rt">1598</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe III.</td><td class="rt">1621</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe IV.</td><td class="rt">1665</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos II.</td><td class="rt">1700</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe V. (first king of the house of Bourbon) abdicated in </td><td class="rt">1724</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Luis I.</td><td class="rt">1724</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe V.</td><td class="rt">1746</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando VI.</td><td class="rt">1759</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos III.</td><td class="rt">1788</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos IV., abdicated</td><td class="rt">1808</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando VII.</td><td class="rt">1833</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Isabel II., dethroned</td><td class="rt">1868</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Gobierno Provisional</td><td class="rt">1871</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Amadeo de Saboya</td><td class="rt">abdicated 1873</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Spanish Republic</td><td class="rt">1874</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso XII</td><td class="rt">died 1886</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Kings of Navarre.</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">The inhabitants of Navarre began the re-conquest from the middle of
-the 8th century. Their rulers were called condes, or kings, until
-Sancho Abarca widened the territory; from that time they are always
-called kings of Navarre.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Sancho Abarca</td><td class="rt">980-994</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Garcia III.</td><td class="rt">1000</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho III., el Mayor</td><td class="rt">1038</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Garcia IV.</td><td class="rt">1057</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho IV.</td><td class="rt">1076</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho Ramirez V.</td><td class="rt">1092</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">This king, and the two that followed, were likewise kings of
-Aragon.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Pedro I.</td><td class="rt">1106</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso, el Batallador</td><td class="rt">1134</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Garcia Ramirez IV.</td><td class="rt">1150</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho VI., el Sabio</td><td class="rt">1194</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho VII., el Fuerte</td><td class="rt">1234</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Here begin the kings of the House of Champagne.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Teobaldo I.</td><td class="rt">1253</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Teobaldo II.</td><td class="rt">1270</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Enrique I.</td><td class="rt">1273</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juana I.</td><td class="rt">1304</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">On her marriage with Philip le Bel, Navarre passed to the house of
-France.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Luis Hutin</td><td class="rt">1316</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Felipe le Long</td><td class="rt">1320</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos I. de Navarra, IV. de Francia</td><td class="rt">1329</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juana II.</td><td class="rt">1343</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos II. d’Evreux</td><td class="rt">1387</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Carlos III.</td><td class="rt">1425</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Dona Blanca y Juan I.</td><td class="rt">1479</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Francisco Febo</td><td class="rt">1483</td></tr>
-<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_395" id="page_395">{395}</a></span>
-
-Catalina</td><td class="rt">1512</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Fernando V. of Navarre took possession in 1512 of Navarre, and it
-was then incorporated with Castile.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Kings of Aragon.</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Aragon belonged to the kingdom of Navarre until Sancho III. gave it
-to his son Ramiro.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Ramiro I.</td><td class="rt">1035, D. 1063</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Sancho I.</td><td class="rt">1094</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Pedro I.</td><td class="rt">1104</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso I., el Batallador</td><td class="rt">1134</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramiro II., el Monge</td><td class="rt">1137</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Aragon and Cataluña are united.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Petronila</td><td class="rt">1162</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso II.</td><td class="rt">1196</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Pedro II.</td><td class="rt">1213</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Jaime I., el Conquistador</td><td class="rt">1276</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Pedro III.</td><td class="rt">1285</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Sicily is united to Aragon.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Alfonso III.</td><td class="rt">1291</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Jaime II.</td><td class="rt">1327</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso IV.</td><td class="rt">1336</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Pedro IV.</td><td class="rt">1387</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juan I.</td><td class="rt">1395</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Martin</td><td class="rt">1410</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando, el de Antequera</td><td class="rt">1416</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Alfonso V.</td><td class="rt">1458</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Juan II.</td><td class="rt">1470</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Fernando el Catolico.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Aragon passes to the crown of Castile.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="2"><i>Counts of Barcelona.</i></th></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">In the 8th and 9th centuries Cataluña belonged to Charlemagne and
-his successors. Wilfredo was the first independent Conde.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Wilfredo el Belloso</td><td class="rt">864-898</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Borrell I.</td><td class="rt">912</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Suniario</td><td class="rt">917</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Borrell II. and his brother Miron</td><td class="rt">992</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramon Borrell</td><td class="rt">1018</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramon Berenguer I.</td><td class="rt">1025</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramon Berenguer II.</td><td class="rt">1077</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Berenguer and Ramon Berenguer III.</td><td class="rt">1113</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Ramon Berenguer IV.</td><td class="rt">1131</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="cind">Ramon Berenguer V. married Dona Petronila de Aragon, and this
-kingdom was incorporated with the Condado de Cataluña.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class="sml80">
-<p class="cb">NO. II</p>
-
-<p class="c"><i>Contemporary Sovereigns</i></p>
-
-<p class="c">The periods have been selected during which leading events in Spanish
-history have occurred.</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="margin:1em 3em;">
-<tr><td class="c">A.D.</td>
-<td class="c">Spain.</td>
-<td class="c">England.</td>
-<td class="c">France.</td>
-<td class="c">Rome.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>800</td><td>Alonso II. el Casto</td><td>Egbert</td><td>Charlemagne</td><td>Leo III.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>877</td><td>Alonso III. el Magno</td><td>Alfred</td><td>Louis II.</td><td>John VII.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>996</td><td>Ramiro III.</td><td>Ethelred II.</td><td>Hugh Capet</td><td>Gregory V.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1075</td><td>Sancho II.</td><td>William the Conqueror</td><td>Philip I.</td><td>Gregory VII.</td></tr>
-<tr valign="top"><td>1155</td><td>Alfonso VII.</td><td>Henry II.</td><td>Louis VII.</td><td>Adrian IV.<br /> Breakspeare</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1245</td><td>San Fernando</td><td>Henry III.</td><td>St. Louis</td><td>Innocent IV.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1345</td><td>Alfonso XI.</td><td>Edward III.</td><td>Philip VI.</td><td>Benedict VI.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1360</td><td>Pedro el Cruel</td><td>Edward III.</td><td>John II.</td><td>Innocent VI.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1485</td><td>Isabel la Catolica</td><td>Henry VII.</td><td>Charles VIII.</td><td>Innocent VIII.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1515</td><td>Fernando de Aragon</td><td>Henry VIII.</td><td>Francis I.</td><td>Leo X.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1550</td><td>Carlos V.</td><td>Edward VI.</td><td>Henry II.</td><td>Paul III.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1560</td><td>Felipe II.</td><td>Elizabeth</td><td>Charles IX.</td><td>Pius IV.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1644</td><td>Felipe IV.</td><td>Charles I.</td><td>Louis XIV.</td><td>Innocent X.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1705</td><td>Felipe V.</td><td>Anne</td><td>Louis XIV.</td><td>Clement XI.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1760</td><td>Carlos III.</td><td>George III.</td><td>Louis XV.</td><td>Clement XIII.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1808</td><td>Fernando VII.</td><td>George III.</td><td>Napoleon I.</td><td>Pius VII.</td></tr>
-<tr><td rowspan="2">1840</td><td rowspan="2">Isabel II.</td><td rowspan="5" class="bl">&mdash;Victoria</td><td class="bl">Louis Philippe</td><td class="bl">Gregory XVI.</td></tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl">Napoleon III.</td><td class="bl">and Pius IX.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1877</td><td>Alfonso XII.</td><td>French Republic</td><td>Leo XIII.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1886</td><td>Cristina, queen-regent</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1886</td><td>Alfonso XIII.</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> “Historia general de España,” by Juan de Mariana. 9 vols.,
-Valencia, 1783-96.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Al Manzor al Allah</i>: “The Victor of God; or, Victorious by
-the Grace of God.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Mas Moros mas ganancia</i>, “The more the Moors, the greater
-the booty,” was one of his sayings, and it has passed into a well-known
-national proverb.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Having kicked to pieces the splendid furniture and beaten
-the Papal chamberlain, he proceeded to threaten to caparison his horse
-with the rich hangings of the chapel, if the Pope refused him instant
-Absolution!
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Si no me absolveis, el Papa,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Seriaos mal contado<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Que do vuestras ricas ropas<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cubriré yo mi caballo!<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">&mdash;Wolf and Hofmann, “Cid Ballads.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Muley is an Arabic word meaning “my lord.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Certainly in 1480, possibly not five-and-twenty years
-later. From curious criminal proceedings instituted against the
-Corregidor of Medina del Campo, we learn that that high judicial
-authority had not hesitated to declare that the soul of Isabella had
-gone direct to hell for her cruel oppression of her subjects, and that
-King Ferdinand was a thief and a robber, and that all the people round
-Medina and Valladolid, where the queen was best known, had formed the
-same judgment of her. “Arch. Gen. Simancas,” Estado, Legajo i., folio
-192; “Calendar of State Papers” (Spain), Supplement to i. and ii.
-(1868), p. 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> From January, 1493, till October, 1497.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Legaspi and Guido Lavezares, under oath, made promises of
-rewards to the Lacandola family and a remission of tribute in
-perpetuity, but they were not fulfilled. In the following century&mdash;year
-1660&mdash;it appears that the descendants of the rajah Lacandola still
-upheld the Spanish authority, and having become sorely impoverished
-thereby, the heir of the family petitioned the governor (Sabiniano
-Manrique de Lara) to make good the honor of his first predecessors.
-Eventually the Lacandolas were exempted from the payment of tribute and
-poll tax forever, as recompense for the filching of their domains.
-</p><p>
-In 1884, when the fiscal reforms were introduced which abolished the
-tribute and established in lieu thereof a document of personal identity
-(cedula personal), for which a tax is levied, the last vestige of
-privilege disappeared.
-</p><p>
-Descendants of Lacandola are still to be met with in several villages
-near Manila. They do not seem to have materially profited by their
-transcendent ancestry&mdash;one of them was serving as a waiter in a French
-restaurant in the capital in 1885.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Guido de Lavezares deposed a sultan in Borneo, in order to
-aid another to the throne, and even asked permission of King Philip II.
-to conquer China, which of course was not conceded to him. <i>Vide</i> also
-the history of the destruction of the Aztec (Mexican) and Incas
-(Peruvian) dynasties by the Spaniards.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> According to Juan de la Concepcion, in his “Hist. Gen. de
-Philipinas,” Vol I., page 431, Li-ma-hong made his escape by cutting a
-canal for his ships to pass through, but this appears highly improbable
-under the circumstances.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Other authors assert that only Soliman rebelled.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Bondage in the Philippines was apparently not so necessary
-for the interests of the Church as it was in Cuba, where a commission of
-friars, appointed soon after the discovery of the island to deliberate
-on the policy of partially permitting slavery there, reported “that the
-Indians would not labor without compulsion, and that, unless they
-labored, they could not be brought into communication with the whites,
-nor be converted to Christianity.” Vide W. H. Prescott’s “Hist. of the
-Conquest of Mexico.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion Vol.
-III., Chap. IX., page 365, pub. Manila, 1788.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> So tenacious was the opposition brought by the Austin
-friars both in Manila and the provinces that the British appear to have
-regarded them as their special foes.</p></div>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
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