Part 7 (1/2)

FOOTNOTES:

[9] The army has been reorganized since. See Register.

[10] ”My experience in this direction since the war is beyond that of any officer of my rank in the army. For ten years I had the honor of being lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Cavalry, and during most of that service I commanded garrisons composed in part of the Ninth Cavalry and other organizations of cavalry and infantry. I have always found the colored race represented in the army obedient, intelligent and zealous in the discharge of duty, brave in battle, easily disciplined, and most efficient in the care of their horses, arms and equipments.

The non-commissioned officers have habitually shown the qualities for control in their position which marked them as faithful and sensible in the discharge of their duties. I take pleasure in bearing witness as above in the interest of the race you represent.” WESLEY MERRITT.

[11] See chapter on Colored Officers.

[12] Young is now captain in the Ninth Cavalry.--T.G.S.

[13] The colored regulars were embarked on the following named s.h.i.+ps: The 9th Cavalry on the Miami, in company with the 6th Infantry; the 10th Cavalry on the Leona, in company with the 1st Cavalry; the 24th Infantry on the City of Was.h.i.+ngton, in company with one battalion of the 21st Infantry; the 25th infantry on board the Concho, in company with the 4th Infantry.

[14] See Note, at the close of this chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

BRIEF SKETCH OF SPANISH HISTORY.

The following brief sketch of Spain, its era of greatness, the causes leading thereto, and the reasons for its rapid decline, will be of interest to the reader at this point in the narrative, as it will bring into view the other side of the impending conflict:

Spain, the first in rank among the second-rate powers of Europe, by reason of her possessions in the West Indies, especially Cuba, may be regarded as quite a near neighbor, and because of her connection with the discovery and settlement of the continent, as well as the commanding part she at one time played in the world's politics, her history cannot but awaken within the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of Americans a most lively interest.

As a geographical and political fact, Spain dates from the earliest times, and the Spanish people gather within themselves the blood and the traditions of the three great continents of the Old World--Europe, Asia and Africa--united to produce the mighty Spaniard of the 15th and 16th centuries. It would be an interesting subject for the anthropologist to trace the construction of that people who are so often spoken of as possessing the pure blood of Castile, and as the facts should be brought to view, another proud fiction would dissipate in thin air, as we should see the Spaniard arising to take his place among the most mixed of mankind.

The Spain that we are considering now is the Spain that gradually emerged from a chaos of conflicting elements into the unity of a Christian nation. The dismal war between creeds gave way to the greater conflict between religions, when Cross and Crescent contended for supremacy, and this too had pa.s.sed. The four stalwart Christian provinces of Leon, Castile, Aragon and Navarre had become the four pillars of support to a national throne and Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning. Spain has now apparently pa.s.sed the narrows and is crossing the bar with prow set toward the open sea. She ends her war with the Moors at the same time that England ends her wars of the Roses, and the battle of Bosworth's field may be cla.s.sed with the capitulation of Granada. Both nations confront a future of about equal promise and may be rated as on equal footing, as this new era of the world opens to view.

What was this new era? Printing had been invented, commerce had arisen, gunpowder had come into use, the feudal system was pa.s.sing, royal authority had become paramount, and Spain was giving to the world its first lessons in what was early stigmatized as the ”knavish calling of diplomacy.”

Now began the halcyon days of Spain, and what a breed of men she produced! Read the story of their conquests in Mexico and Peru, as told with so much skill and taste by our own Prescott; or read of the grandeur of her national character, and the wonderful valor of her troops, and the almost marvelous skill of her Alexander of Parma, and her Spinola, as described by our great Motley, and you will see something of the moral and national glory of that Spain which under Charles V and Philip II awed the world into respectful silence.

Who but men of iron, under a commander of steel, could have conducted to a successful issue the awful siege of Antwerp, and by a discipline more dreadful than death, kept for so many years, armed control of the country of the brave Netherlanders? A Farnese was there, who could support and command an army, carry Philip and his puerile idiosyncrasies upon his back and meet the fury of an outraged people who were fighting on their own soil for all that man holds dear. Never was wretched cause so ably led, never were such splendid talents so unworthily employed.

Alexander of Parma, Cortez, the Pizarros, were representatives of that form of human character that Spain especially developed. Skill and daring were brought out in dazzling splendor, and success followed their movements. Take a brief survey of the Empire under Charles V: Himself Emperor of Germany; his son married to the Queen of England; Turkey repulsed; France humbled, and all Europe practically within his grasp. And what was Spain outside of Europe? In America she possessed territory covering sixty degrees of lat.i.tude, owning Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, New Granada, Peru and Chili, with vast parts of North America, and the islands of Cuba, Jamaica and St. Domingo. In Africa and Asia she had large possessions--in a word, the energies of the world were at her feet. The silver and gold of America, the manufactures and commerce of the Netherlands, combined to make her the richest of nations.

The limits of the present purpose do not permit an exhaustive presentation of her material strength in detail, nor are the means at hand for making such an exhibit. We must be content with a general picture, quoted directly from Motley. He says:

”Look at the broad magnificent Spanish Peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of lat.i.tude and ten of longt.i.tude, commanding the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, with a genial climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of Africa, and protected from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and temperate breezes from either ocean. A generous southern territory, flowing with oil and wine, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful nature--splendid cities--the new and daily expanding Madrid, rich in the trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world; Cadiz, as populous at that day as London, seated by the straits where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans; Granada, the ancient, wealthy seat of the fallen Moors; Toledo, Valladolid, and Lisbon, chief city of the recently conquered kingdom of Portugal, counting with its suburbs a larger population than any city excepting Paris, in Europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the Indies--these were some of the treasures of Spain herself. But she possessed Sicily also, the better portion of Italy, and important dependencies in Africa, while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her aggrandizement. The world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from East to West, only to bear the fortunate Spanish Empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. The most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. Such was Spain.”

Such is not Spain to-day. A quite recent writer, speaking of Spain before the war, said, that although Spain in extent holds the sixth place in the European states, ”it really now subsists merely by the sufferance of stronger nations.” Thus has that nation, which three centuries ago dominated the world, lost both its position and its energy.

Without attempting to sketch chronologically, either this rise or this decline, let us rather direct our efforts to an inquiry into the causes of both the one and the other.

In attempting to explain the greatness of Spain we must give first place to the vigor of the Spanish race. The great Spaniard was a mighty compound. He had the blood of Rome mingled with the awful torrent that gave birth to the soulless Goths and Vandals. In him also flowed the hot blood of the Moors. He was both st.u.r.dy and fiery; he had the fervor of the South with the tenacity of the North; the pride of the Roman with the pa.s.sion of the Moor. The Spanish race was emphatically a rich race.

And then we must remember that this race had been forged in war.

Century after century, from the earliest times, they had lived with their arms in their hands. First came the long war between the Arian Vandals, and the Trinitarian natives; then the seven-hundred-year war with the followers of Mahomed. The whole mission of life to them was to fight.