Rafael Altamira

“ We have some one-volume histories of Spain in Castilian which are to be recommended for the needs of our own secondary schools, but not for those of a foreign country, whose students require another manner of presentation of our history, for they have to apply an interrogatory ideal which is different from ours in their investigation of the deeds of another people,—all the more so if that people, like the Spanish, has mingled in the life of nearly the whole world and been the victim of the calumnies and fanciful whims of historians, politicians, and travellers. ”

“ Assuming that it would be desirable, can Spain advance any farther along the highway of democracy? If she would do so, she must contend with the aristocracy, which in fact rules the country. The modern Spanish aristocracy is composed of the nobility, their relatives, rich merchants, the clergy, and the military. The richer members of the aristocracy, especially those of central and southern Spain, control the greater part of the best Spanish lands, which they cultivate just enough to ensure wealth to themselves. ”

“ It appears, therefore, that the empire was more a matter of show than of strength, and that Spain, who already had a surfeit of responsibility, what with her conquests in Italy, Africa, and the Americas, must bear the burden for all. The reign of Charles would seem to be the parting of the ways for Spain. If she could have restricted herself to her purely Spanish inheritance, even with the incubus of her Italian possessions, she might have prolonged her existence as a great power indefinitely. ”

“ The lottery, which has its agencies in every hamlet and city of Spain, is government owned and operated, paying some of the highest prizes offered in the world at the present time. Few human passions are so strong as that of gambling, and Spain has surrendered to the lottery. The poor people welcome this insidious system, believing it to be almost the only avenue of advance to the envied ease of the wealthy, and invest their spare savings in a ticket. Hope and even expectation of getting a lucky number have come to be a national disease. A third abettor of the aristocracy is the bull-fight. ”

“ The wealth and greatness proceeding from the conquest of the Americas were to be sacrificed in a fruitless attempt to gain a predominant place in Europe,—which, indeed, Spain might have had, much as England acquired it, if she had not pursued it so directly and insistently, but had been willing to devote her attention to her colonies. On the other hand, the Americas drained Spain of some of her best resources in manhood, while the Italian wars brought her into the current of the highest European civilization. ”

“ One of the interesting factors of the era of the war was that of the French influence in Spain, which was to have a pronounced effect on the internal development of the country, and, by extension, on that of the colonies. Philip V was seventeen years of age when he ascended the throne, but, though he many times proved his valor in battle, he was in other respects a weak and irresolute character, without striking virtues or defects, fond of hunting, and exceedingly devout,—in fine, of a type such that he was inevitably bound to be led by others. ”

“ Spain placed herself abreast of the times, but not as formerly in a leading position; among the many who distinguished themselves by their achievements there were few who attained to a European reputation, and perhaps only one, the painter Goya, may be reckoned with the immortals. On the other hand Spain entered more definitely into the general current of western European thought than at any previous time in her history; intellectual activities in France reacted almost at once in Spain, and the influences springing out of Italy and England were potent. ”

“ Their most dangerous enemies were the nobles, whose spirit of independence and self-esteem and whose vast wealth in lands and fighting men made them a powerful factor in themselves. They were yet stronger because the kings had to depend on them for military service since there was no large standing army, and because they in a measure developed a class consciousness in opposition to absolutism, becoming a nobility rather than remaining a mere aggregation of nobles. ”

“ More serious, perhaps, was the fact that the Americas drained Spain of some of her best and most virile blood. The number of Spaniards who went to America, however, was not excessive,—little more than the number of Englishmen who crossed the seas in the seventeenth century. Furthermore, Spain most certainly secured a vast financial profit out of the Americas, not only from precious metals, but also from commerce and the employment which thousands obtained both in Spain and in the colonies. ”

“ The game is so emotional, so wildly exciting, that it grips the people to the exclusion of almost every other interest; in Seville, one can almost be certain, if he hears men quarreling at the top of their voices, that they are disputing the merits of this bull-fighter or that, for that is the absorbing factor in life, every hour in the day, in every day of the year. Men who have caught the fever of the bull-fight rarely have interest in national reform ”

“ If only the Spanish kings might hold the country long enough, it appeared inevitable that a real amalgamation of such kindred peoples would one day take place. Furthermore, if only the kings would have, or could have, confined themselves to a Pan-Hispanic policy, embracing Spain and Portugal and their colonies, the opportunity for the continued greatness of the peninsula seemed striking. The case was a different one from that of the union of Castile and Aragon, however, for a strong feeling of Portuguese nationality had already developed, based largely on a hatred of Spaniards. ”

“ In addition to the wealth and political influence of the aristocracy other factors in Spanish life abound to aid and abet in their maintenance of control. One of these is emigration. Spaniards do not expect to rise from poverty to great wealth, as men do in America, for so few of them rarely can, under the existing system, that there is not the stimulus of other men’s successes to spur them on. The more ambitious of the poor and moderately well-to-do, therefore, make their way to the Americas, especially to Argentina, and, prior to the recent era of civil war, to Mexico. ”

“ He was energetic, intelligent, and well educated, but was stubborn, proud, irascible, boastful, and insulting. He was able to make plans on a gigantic scale, and had real discernment as to the strength of Spain’s enemies, but lacked the practical capacity to handle the details. The times were such as demanded a Spínola, but the counsels of Olivares prevailed, and their keynote was imperialism in Europe and a centralized absolutism in the peninsula. ”

“ The success of the American Revolution was to be related in no small degree to the loss of Spain’s colonial empire. The failure of the French Revolution was to produce a powerful despot who was to bring Spain, under Charles IV, to the lowest point she had reached since the days of Charles II. Nevertheless, the reign of Charles III is to be considered as something more than a brilliant moment in history without ultimate effect. The internal reforms were of permanent benefit to Spain and even to the Americas, capable of utilization under the more democratic systems of the future. ”

“ The desire for a republic has grown steadily since its first public expression in 1854, and has now swept across the northern provinces of Spain, from Galicia to Catalonia, cutting through the formerly Carlist, or absolutist, country, although manifesting itself more in the cities than elsewhere. If no serious outbreak for the establishment of a republic has taken place, it is in large degree a tribute to the king. ”

“ An honorable man in every sense of the word, just, intelligent, and solicitous for his friends, he was hot-tempered, and unbending in his hostility to his opponents. His action made itself felt in the improvement of the means of communication in the peninsula and in his economic reforms of a commercial nature, such as the great free trade decree of 1778, which abandoned certain phases of the narrowly monopolistic policy which Spain had always followed in her trade with the colonies. ”

“ The very necessities of civil strife obliged the kings to yield privileges to one set of nobles in order to get their aid against another. Nevertheless, great as was the nobles’ authority, it was not so excessive as elsewhere in western Europe. Feudalism, the essence of which was the grant of lands in perpetuity with rights of sovereignty attached, in return for which the grantee owed fealty and some form of service, perhaps military, to the grantor, did not exist in its fullness in northwestern Spain. ”

“ A combination of evils at length sank Spain to such a state of economic degradation and misery as comported ill with her political reputation in European affairs and with the opportunities she had had and failed to employ to advantage. Nevertheless, Spain’s decadence, overwhelming though it was, is to be viewed from a relative standpoint. Medieval Spain at its best, except possibly during the Moslem era, did not attain to an equally flourishing state with the Spain of the seventeenth century, which marks the lowest point to which she has fallen in modern times. ”

“ Spaniards are not unusually cruel or vindictive. The notion that they are has arisen in various ways. Spaniards are emotional, and under the stress of excitement are capable of acts of great violence, but on the other hand they very rarely plan a crime in cold blood. The bull-fight has been charged to an innate cruelty of Spaniards, but whatever one may think of the game, the aficionado, or bull-fight “fan,” is appealed to by the skill of the bull-fighter and the courage of the bull, rather than by the flow of blood. ”

“ The peace of 1763 was looked upon by France and Spain as a truce, for if England had been dangerous before, she was doubly so now. France wished revenge and the restoration of her overseas domains, while Spain’s principal motive was a desire to save her colonies from conquest by England. Both countries therefore bent their energies to preparations for another war; in Spain the next decade and a half was a period of remarkable economic reforms tending to the regeneration of the peninsula as the basis for an army and navy. ”

“ Even among the common people, especially among the so-called majos, or low-class dandies (both male and female) of Madrid, there were special types of elegant dress. Ladies’ dress-combs of unusual size, not infrequently half a foot or more in height above the hair, may be mentioned as one phase of the majo styles, which stood for a reaction against French modes, though with scant knowledge or regard for ancient Spanish customs. Majismo, both in dress and in customs, invaded the aristocracy, and has been immortalized in some of the paintings of Goya. ”

“ If Spain furnished fewer great names and achievements at this time than formerly, nevertheless she made a notable recovery from the low position she held at the close of the seventeenth century, and in some respects, especially in natural science, produced men able to rank with their contemporaries in other lands. In keeping with the practical bent of Spanish character Spaniards were more famous for their applications of scientific discoveries than for their contributions to pure science. Just as in the previous era, the Americas furnished a prominent field for scientific investigations. ”

“ The Americas began to take over the intellectual side of their Spanish heritage much more completely than before, and while not nearly approximating the mother country in the amount or excellence of their contributions furnished illustrious names in almost every branch worthy to stand beside those of their contemporaries in Spain. ”

“ The reforms in the Americas, following the precedent of nearly three centuries, were undertaken more with a view to the production of revenues for Spain than for the contented development of the colonies themselves. Spain also ran counter to a new force in world history, which she herself was obliged by circumstances to assist in establishing itself. The spirit of world democracy was born with the American Revolution, and appeared in France soon afterward. This meant that the autocratic basis of Spanish greatness was presently to be destroyed. ”