Spain

Spain presents a very interesting problem to the foreign observer, and especially to the English observer. The problem lies in the discovery of what factors have produced a result apparently at issue with itself; a result containing an apparent contradiction. The reason this problem is of special interest to Englishmen, is that many of the factors at work are those which have applied to England in the past or are beginning now to apply to her.Let us sum up the main characteristics of the position :(1) Spain was the product of an amalgamation between several distinct provinces, one of which, Catalonia, is still more or less hostile to the rest. Spain so amalgamated conquered, colonised and completely transformed in her own image a large tract of the earth's surface, to wit, all South and Central America with the exception of the Amazon Basin, and spread her language and institutions over the earth.(2) Spain, while so acting, became the undisputed mistress of the seas and planted her influence by sea throughout the world; Spanish architecture, language and even cooking are to be found in the depths of the Pacific and on the islands of the Atlantic, as well as upon the mainland of South America.(3) At the same time the Spaniards were so powerful by land that they controlled a great part of the Mediterranean countries, furnished the best infantry for the German dominions (at one time united with their throne), fought magnificently with a handful of men a losing battle, half a lifetime long, in Holland, and were in general by far the first military power of their time

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