CHAPTER VIII.The Fate of Spain.The Invention ofærialwarships. In 1924 an International Congress is held at Washington. Law passed prohibiting the use ofærialwarships. Spain is first to violate the compact. The penalty is extermination from the face of the earth.Spain, in 1999, was reduced to a mere geographical quantity. Ever after the Spanish unpleasantness with America, in 1898, Spain’s unhappy history had been sliding down a greased pole. From the moment that Columbus discovered America, Spain became a spoiled child of fortune.In 1492 Spain had a population of 40,000,000 people,—frugal, industrious and prosperous. In the arts and sciences they led the world in those days. In military science and navigation none could equal them. The discovery of America utterly ruined Spain in less than three hundred years. Spaniards thereafter ceased to depend upon their own energy and resources. Intoxicated by the brilliant discoveries of Columbus, the dazzling conquests of Pizarro, Cortes and De Soto, Spain has endeavored since the fifteenth century to enslave the New World and live upon the sweat of others’ brows.The acquisition of sudden and prodigious wealth in the New World; the steady flowThe Dangers of Sudden Wealth.of money brought into Spain by slave labor; the luxury and voluptuous ease of life thus engendered, form important factors in the history of Spain’s decline. After losing all of her vast possessions in the New World, it was left to America in 1898 to give the Spaniards their coup-de-grâce and check their baggage for Madrid.In 1942 Spain ceased to possess a government of her own. After a devastating war, (une guerre à l’outrance,) Spain ended her official existence and was parcelled out among the European nations. England, with Gibraltar to start with, secured a generous slice of the Spanish booty. In the twentieth century England was still well inclined to make the best possible use of her opportunities, and America was always glad to advance her cause, whenever it was practicable to do so.The annihilation of Spain came about after the following manner:In the year 1917 the world rejoiced at the prospect of a permanent solution of the war problem. The new devices invented and perfected by the deviltry of man, to be employed in the destruction of his fellow men, had reached in that year such a degree of perfection that war simply meant the wholesale destruction or total annihilation of those who engaged in it.In 1917ærialnavigation was practically solved, and a new and vast element hadA New Element in War.opened its possibilities to the will of man. At the close of the nineteenth century the “blue etherial” was wholly unobstructed in its vast extent and still defied the skill of our best inventors. Prof. Langley and his disciples had not yet solved the great question of ærial navigation. In 1899 this most inviting and ever tempting field of research still remained an unsolved mystery. The old fashioned balloon, with no will or control of its own, subject to the whim or caprice of every breath of air, was the best apology we could offer in 1899 for purposes of ærial navigation.In 1917 the problem of ærial navigation had been practically solved by Tesla, inÆrial Navigation Perfected.whose brain many profound secrets of nature had long been harbored. With the aid and potentiality of electricity, (the slave of the twentieth century), ærial navigation had been perfected. One of the first devices invented for use in the air was the ærial warship, operated and controlled by electricity.Loaded with a quarter ton of dynamite, these deadly warships, without anyone to navigate them could be made to hover over a city and threaten its populationwith total annihilation. They were popularly called “death angels.” The sight of one of the warships blanched the cheeks of the most intrepid, filling the city or town over which it hovered with utmost consternation.The human mind recoiled with horror at the thought of war with such fearful enginesSimply Wholesale Murder.of destruction. In fact war carried on with ærial dynamite ships was no longer worthy of being called by that dignified name, it was simply a wholesale destruction of lives and property. With strange inconsistency, the world in 1917 appeared to be willing to wage war on the “retail plan.” It was apparently willing to sacrifice human beings in terrible battles fought between powerfully armed vessels, with heavy rifles and rapid firing guns. The world was willing to slaughter life by one method, yet it held in abhorrence these “death angels,” which accomplished a wholesale instead of a retail destruction of life and property. With an inconsistency peculiarly its own, the world in 1917 appeared quite willing that 50,000 men should be destroyed in a single battle by rapid-firing guns, which could mow down a whole regiment at a time, but the proposition to destroy an army of 50,000 men with one of the deadly ærial warships, was everywhere regarded with horror. By thisdecision the world placed itself in the position of a man who was willing to be killed by the shot of a six-inch rifle, yet strongly objected on the score of humanity to being riddled by the shell of a 14-inch rifle.War at best is but a relic of barbarism, and, be it waged with ærial warships, or submarine torpedoes, with Mauser rifles or smooth bore guns, it accomplishes the same end; nations are plunged into ruin; the family circle is broken; widows and orphans are left disconsolate.Be this as it may, in the year 1924, a Congress of the leading nations was held in the city of Washington, (then situated in the State of Mexico,) and, as a result of its deliberations a solemn compact was entered into, signed by the Ambassadors of every civilized nation, and a treaty of the mostÆrial War Ships Prohibited.binding character was ratified, in which it was stipulated that under no conditions, named or unnamed, would the use of ærial warships ever be permitted as an instrument or medium for waging war among nations.It was furthermore agreed and stipulated between these nations that if, at any future period, any nation on the habitable globe should ever permit itself to employ a system of ærial warships for the prosecution of war, the other signatories of the treaty would make common cause and combine in an attack against the offender. They wouldproceed to invade its territory, destroy its cities and monuments, lay waste its plains, obliterate its flag and name from the family of nations. The remaining property of the violator of the treaty must also be seized and sold, the proceeds to be donated to charitable deeds.It was further stipulated between the signatory powers that the punishment meted out to any violator of this solemn treaty would be in the same kind as its offending. In other words, a nation that employed the use of ærial warships and practiced the horrible system of dropping from great heights heavy charges of high explosives upon cities, fleets or shipping, would be wiped out from the face of the earth and annihilated by the same methods of destruction.The first violator of the Washington Treaty of 1924 proved to be Spain, theA Bad Rascal Caught.ancient home and abiding-place of the Holy Inquisition, that reprobate among nations; the emaciated and wasted offspring of priestcraft. To her in 1930 was meted out the condign punishment which she richly deserved for her flagrant violation of the Washington Treaty in prosecuting her war against Morocco. During this war, in the year 1929, Spain had resorted to the use of ærial warships and by employing a fleet of “death angels,” she had utterly destroyed theancient city of Fez, the capital of that barbaric North African State, reducing the city into a heap of ruins and causing the slaughter, in less than thirty minutes, of over 175,000 people. Tangier, on the northern boundary of Morocco, a city of 75,000 population, had also suffered the same fate from the Spanish “death angels.” Tangier, with its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes in less than ten minutes.In order to chastise Spain for her wanton cruelty and open violation of the international convention of 1924, a peremptory note was served upon the Madrid authorities, signed by the Treaty Powers, with the names of America and England at the head of the list. It was particularly observed that the signature of the United States of the Americas was underscored, as though to remind Spain that America had not forgotten the wrongs of Cuba.On the 21st day of April, 1930, (just thirty-two years after the declaration of ourHoisting the Storm-signal.first war with Spain,) notice was served upon the Madrid authorities that within thirty days from date, the allied nations of the world would mobilize their ærial war fleets and proceed to devastate Spanish territory. This ultimatum included Ceuta, the Balearic islands, as well as the ever-faithful isles of the Canaries.This international ultimatum was dispatchedin conformity to the terms of the Washington Treaty of 1924, which demanded, irrevocably and without appeal, the extinction of any nation that employed such barbarous methods of warfare as ærial warships and the practice of hurling gun-cotton, dynamite and nitro-glycerine from the skies upon defenceless cities.At last Spanish pride was humbled. With a terrible doom to face, with no friend to counsel, succor or comfort her, Spain was at last brought to the dregs of humiliation.Spain Sheds Crocodile Tears.In vain did that unhappy country plead for leniency and mercy. Spain was willing to sue for peace and safety upon any terms, but in vain did that stricken nation wave the olive branch.The countenance of the world was withdrawn from Spain. The Treaty Powers were obdurate and Spain must suffer for the terrible slaughter of Fez and Tangier. The world in 1930 demanded that an example should be made. It was determined to settle, once and forever, the important question of using dynamite and other fulminants as a weapon of war thrown down from airships. It had been determined that any nation employing such barbarous methods of warfare should be uprooted from the face of the earth.The object and purpose of the thirty-day notice was to allow the entire population,men, women and children, ample time to leave the doomed kingdom. The TreatyThirty Days to Leave Spain.Powers, in seeking to punish Spain, did not wish to sacrifice life. The punishment Spain was to receive consisted in the annihilation of her kingdom and the destruction of her cities and monuments. Like modern Jews, who had lost their Palestine, they were thereafter to be scattered over the face of the globe, with no country and no national ensign of their own. Such was the fiat of the nations in 1930 and this decree was fulfilled to the letter.
CHAPTER VIII.The Fate of Spain.The Invention ofærialwarships. In 1924 an International Congress is held at Washington. Law passed prohibiting the use ofærialwarships. Spain is first to violate the compact. The penalty is extermination from the face of the earth.Spain, in 1999, was reduced to a mere geographical quantity. Ever after the Spanish unpleasantness with America, in 1898, Spain’s unhappy history had been sliding down a greased pole. From the moment that Columbus discovered America, Spain became a spoiled child of fortune.In 1492 Spain had a population of 40,000,000 people,—frugal, industrious and prosperous. In the arts and sciences they led the world in those days. In military science and navigation none could equal them. The discovery of America utterly ruined Spain in less than three hundred years. Spaniards thereafter ceased to depend upon their own energy and resources. Intoxicated by the brilliant discoveries of Columbus, the dazzling conquests of Pizarro, Cortes and De Soto, Spain has endeavored since the fifteenth century to enslave the New World and live upon the sweat of others’ brows.The acquisition of sudden and prodigious wealth in the New World; the steady flowThe Dangers of Sudden Wealth.of money brought into Spain by slave labor; the luxury and voluptuous ease of life thus engendered, form important factors in the history of Spain’s decline. After losing all of her vast possessions in the New World, it was left to America in 1898 to give the Spaniards their coup-de-grâce and check their baggage for Madrid.In 1942 Spain ceased to possess a government of her own. After a devastating war, (une guerre à l’outrance,) Spain ended her official existence and was parcelled out among the European nations. England, with Gibraltar to start with, secured a generous slice of the Spanish booty. In the twentieth century England was still well inclined to make the best possible use of her opportunities, and America was always glad to advance her cause, whenever it was practicable to do so.The annihilation of Spain came about after the following manner:In the year 1917 the world rejoiced at the prospect of a permanent solution of the war problem. The new devices invented and perfected by the deviltry of man, to be employed in the destruction of his fellow men, had reached in that year such a degree of perfection that war simply meant the wholesale destruction or total annihilation of those who engaged in it.In 1917ærialnavigation was practically solved, and a new and vast element hadA New Element in War.opened its possibilities to the will of man. At the close of the nineteenth century the “blue etherial” was wholly unobstructed in its vast extent and still defied the skill of our best inventors. Prof. Langley and his disciples had not yet solved the great question of ærial navigation. In 1899 this most inviting and ever tempting field of research still remained an unsolved mystery. The old fashioned balloon, with no will or control of its own, subject to the whim or caprice of every breath of air, was the best apology we could offer in 1899 for purposes of ærial navigation.In 1917 the problem of ærial navigation had been practically solved by Tesla, inÆrial Navigation Perfected.whose brain many profound secrets of nature had long been harbored. With the aid and potentiality of electricity, (the slave of the twentieth century), ærial navigation had been perfected. One of the first devices invented for use in the air was the ærial warship, operated and controlled by electricity.Loaded with a quarter ton of dynamite, these deadly warships, without anyone to navigate them could be made to hover over a city and threaten its populationwith total annihilation. They were popularly called “death angels.” The sight of one of the warships blanched the cheeks of the most intrepid, filling the city or town over which it hovered with utmost consternation.The human mind recoiled with horror at the thought of war with such fearful enginesSimply Wholesale Murder.of destruction. In fact war carried on with ærial dynamite ships was no longer worthy of being called by that dignified name, it was simply a wholesale destruction of lives and property. With strange inconsistency, the world in 1917 appeared to be willing to wage war on the “retail plan.” It was apparently willing to sacrifice human beings in terrible battles fought between powerfully armed vessels, with heavy rifles and rapid firing guns. The world was willing to slaughter life by one method, yet it held in abhorrence these “death angels,” which accomplished a wholesale instead of a retail destruction of life and property. With an inconsistency peculiarly its own, the world in 1917 appeared quite willing that 50,000 men should be destroyed in a single battle by rapid-firing guns, which could mow down a whole regiment at a time, but the proposition to destroy an army of 50,000 men with one of the deadly ærial warships, was everywhere regarded with horror. By thisdecision the world placed itself in the position of a man who was willing to be killed by the shot of a six-inch rifle, yet strongly objected on the score of humanity to being riddled by the shell of a 14-inch rifle.War at best is but a relic of barbarism, and, be it waged with ærial warships, or submarine torpedoes, with Mauser rifles or smooth bore guns, it accomplishes the same end; nations are plunged into ruin; the family circle is broken; widows and orphans are left disconsolate.Be this as it may, in the year 1924, a Congress of the leading nations was held in the city of Washington, (then situated in the State of Mexico,) and, as a result of its deliberations a solemn compact was entered into, signed by the Ambassadors of every civilized nation, and a treaty of the mostÆrial War Ships Prohibited.binding character was ratified, in which it was stipulated that under no conditions, named or unnamed, would the use of ærial warships ever be permitted as an instrument or medium for waging war among nations.It was furthermore agreed and stipulated between these nations that if, at any future period, any nation on the habitable globe should ever permit itself to employ a system of ærial warships for the prosecution of war, the other signatories of the treaty would make common cause and combine in an attack against the offender. They wouldproceed to invade its territory, destroy its cities and monuments, lay waste its plains, obliterate its flag and name from the family of nations. The remaining property of the violator of the treaty must also be seized and sold, the proceeds to be donated to charitable deeds.It was further stipulated between the signatory powers that the punishment meted out to any violator of this solemn treaty would be in the same kind as its offending. In other words, a nation that employed the use of ærial warships and practiced the horrible system of dropping from great heights heavy charges of high explosives upon cities, fleets or shipping, would be wiped out from the face of the earth and annihilated by the same methods of destruction.The first violator of the Washington Treaty of 1924 proved to be Spain, theA Bad Rascal Caught.ancient home and abiding-place of the Holy Inquisition, that reprobate among nations; the emaciated and wasted offspring of priestcraft. To her in 1930 was meted out the condign punishment which she richly deserved for her flagrant violation of the Washington Treaty in prosecuting her war against Morocco. During this war, in the year 1929, Spain had resorted to the use of ærial warships and by employing a fleet of “death angels,” she had utterly destroyed theancient city of Fez, the capital of that barbaric North African State, reducing the city into a heap of ruins and causing the slaughter, in less than thirty minutes, of over 175,000 people. Tangier, on the northern boundary of Morocco, a city of 75,000 population, had also suffered the same fate from the Spanish “death angels.” Tangier, with its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes in less than ten minutes.In order to chastise Spain for her wanton cruelty and open violation of the international convention of 1924, a peremptory note was served upon the Madrid authorities, signed by the Treaty Powers, with the names of America and England at the head of the list. It was particularly observed that the signature of the United States of the Americas was underscored, as though to remind Spain that America had not forgotten the wrongs of Cuba.On the 21st day of April, 1930, (just thirty-two years after the declaration of ourHoisting the Storm-signal.first war with Spain,) notice was served upon the Madrid authorities that within thirty days from date, the allied nations of the world would mobilize their ærial war fleets and proceed to devastate Spanish territory. This ultimatum included Ceuta, the Balearic islands, as well as the ever-faithful isles of the Canaries.This international ultimatum was dispatchedin conformity to the terms of the Washington Treaty of 1924, which demanded, irrevocably and without appeal, the extinction of any nation that employed such barbarous methods of warfare as ærial warships and the practice of hurling gun-cotton, dynamite and nitro-glycerine from the skies upon defenceless cities.At last Spanish pride was humbled. With a terrible doom to face, with no friend to counsel, succor or comfort her, Spain was at last brought to the dregs of humiliation.Spain Sheds Crocodile Tears.In vain did that unhappy country plead for leniency and mercy. Spain was willing to sue for peace and safety upon any terms, but in vain did that stricken nation wave the olive branch.The countenance of the world was withdrawn from Spain. The Treaty Powers were obdurate and Spain must suffer for the terrible slaughter of Fez and Tangier. The world in 1930 demanded that an example should be made. It was determined to settle, once and forever, the important question of using dynamite and other fulminants as a weapon of war thrown down from airships. It had been determined that any nation employing such barbarous methods of warfare should be uprooted from the face of the earth.The object and purpose of the thirty-day notice was to allow the entire population,men, women and children, ample time to leave the doomed kingdom. The TreatyThirty Days to Leave Spain.Powers, in seeking to punish Spain, did not wish to sacrifice life. The punishment Spain was to receive consisted in the annihilation of her kingdom and the destruction of her cities and monuments. Like modern Jews, who had lost their Palestine, they were thereafter to be scattered over the face of the globe, with no country and no national ensign of their own. Such was the fiat of the nations in 1930 and this decree was fulfilled to the letter.
CHAPTER VIII.The Fate of Spain.The Invention ofærialwarships. In 1924 an International Congress is held at Washington. Law passed prohibiting the use ofærialwarships. Spain is first to violate the compact. The penalty is extermination from the face of the earth.
The Invention ofærialwarships. In 1924 an International Congress is held at Washington. Law passed prohibiting the use ofærialwarships. Spain is first to violate the compact. The penalty is extermination from the face of the earth.
The Invention ofærialwarships. In 1924 an International Congress is held at Washington. Law passed prohibiting the use ofærialwarships. Spain is first to violate the compact. The penalty is extermination from the face of the earth.
Spain, in 1999, was reduced to a mere geographical quantity. Ever after the Spanish unpleasantness with America, in 1898, Spain’s unhappy history had been sliding down a greased pole. From the moment that Columbus discovered America, Spain became a spoiled child of fortune.In 1492 Spain had a population of 40,000,000 people,—frugal, industrious and prosperous. In the arts and sciences they led the world in those days. In military science and navigation none could equal them. The discovery of America utterly ruined Spain in less than three hundred years. Spaniards thereafter ceased to depend upon their own energy and resources. Intoxicated by the brilliant discoveries of Columbus, the dazzling conquests of Pizarro, Cortes and De Soto, Spain has endeavored since the fifteenth century to enslave the New World and live upon the sweat of others’ brows.The acquisition of sudden and prodigious wealth in the New World; the steady flowThe Dangers of Sudden Wealth.of money brought into Spain by slave labor; the luxury and voluptuous ease of life thus engendered, form important factors in the history of Spain’s decline. After losing all of her vast possessions in the New World, it was left to America in 1898 to give the Spaniards their coup-de-grâce and check their baggage for Madrid.In 1942 Spain ceased to possess a government of her own. After a devastating war, (une guerre à l’outrance,) Spain ended her official existence and was parcelled out among the European nations. England, with Gibraltar to start with, secured a generous slice of the Spanish booty. In the twentieth century England was still well inclined to make the best possible use of her opportunities, and America was always glad to advance her cause, whenever it was practicable to do so.The annihilation of Spain came about after the following manner:In the year 1917 the world rejoiced at the prospect of a permanent solution of the war problem. The new devices invented and perfected by the deviltry of man, to be employed in the destruction of his fellow men, had reached in that year such a degree of perfection that war simply meant the wholesale destruction or total annihilation of those who engaged in it.In 1917ærialnavigation was practically solved, and a new and vast element hadA New Element in War.opened its possibilities to the will of man. At the close of the nineteenth century the “blue etherial” was wholly unobstructed in its vast extent and still defied the skill of our best inventors. Prof. Langley and his disciples had not yet solved the great question of ærial navigation. In 1899 this most inviting and ever tempting field of research still remained an unsolved mystery. The old fashioned balloon, with no will or control of its own, subject to the whim or caprice of every breath of air, was the best apology we could offer in 1899 for purposes of ærial navigation.In 1917 the problem of ærial navigation had been practically solved by Tesla, inÆrial Navigation Perfected.whose brain many profound secrets of nature had long been harbored. With the aid and potentiality of electricity, (the slave of the twentieth century), ærial navigation had been perfected. One of the first devices invented for use in the air was the ærial warship, operated and controlled by electricity.Loaded with a quarter ton of dynamite, these deadly warships, without anyone to navigate them could be made to hover over a city and threaten its populationwith total annihilation. They were popularly called “death angels.” The sight of one of the warships blanched the cheeks of the most intrepid, filling the city or town over which it hovered with utmost consternation.The human mind recoiled with horror at the thought of war with such fearful enginesSimply Wholesale Murder.of destruction. In fact war carried on with ærial dynamite ships was no longer worthy of being called by that dignified name, it was simply a wholesale destruction of lives and property. With strange inconsistency, the world in 1917 appeared to be willing to wage war on the “retail plan.” It was apparently willing to sacrifice human beings in terrible battles fought between powerfully armed vessels, with heavy rifles and rapid firing guns. The world was willing to slaughter life by one method, yet it held in abhorrence these “death angels,” which accomplished a wholesale instead of a retail destruction of life and property. With an inconsistency peculiarly its own, the world in 1917 appeared quite willing that 50,000 men should be destroyed in a single battle by rapid-firing guns, which could mow down a whole regiment at a time, but the proposition to destroy an army of 50,000 men with one of the deadly ærial warships, was everywhere regarded with horror. By thisdecision the world placed itself in the position of a man who was willing to be killed by the shot of a six-inch rifle, yet strongly objected on the score of humanity to being riddled by the shell of a 14-inch rifle.War at best is but a relic of barbarism, and, be it waged with ærial warships, or submarine torpedoes, with Mauser rifles or smooth bore guns, it accomplishes the same end; nations are plunged into ruin; the family circle is broken; widows and orphans are left disconsolate.Be this as it may, in the year 1924, a Congress of the leading nations was held in the city of Washington, (then situated in the State of Mexico,) and, as a result of its deliberations a solemn compact was entered into, signed by the Ambassadors of every civilized nation, and a treaty of the mostÆrial War Ships Prohibited.binding character was ratified, in which it was stipulated that under no conditions, named or unnamed, would the use of ærial warships ever be permitted as an instrument or medium for waging war among nations.It was furthermore agreed and stipulated between these nations that if, at any future period, any nation on the habitable globe should ever permit itself to employ a system of ærial warships for the prosecution of war, the other signatories of the treaty would make common cause and combine in an attack against the offender. They wouldproceed to invade its territory, destroy its cities and monuments, lay waste its plains, obliterate its flag and name from the family of nations. The remaining property of the violator of the treaty must also be seized and sold, the proceeds to be donated to charitable deeds.It was further stipulated between the signatory powers that the punishment meted out to any violator of this solemn treaty would be in the same kind as its offending. In other words, a nation that employed the use of ærial warships and practiced the horrible system of dropping from great heights heavy charges of high explosives upon cities, fleets or shipping, would be wiped out from the face of the earth and annihilated by the same methods of destruction.The first violator of the Washington Treaty of 1924 proved to be Spain, theA Bad Rascal Caught.ancient home and abiding-place of the Holy Inquisition, that reprobate among nations; the emaciated and wasted offspring of priestcraft. To her in 1930 was meted out the condign punishment which she richly deserved for her flagrant violation of the Washington Treaty in prosecuting her war against Morocco. During this war, in the year 1929, Spain had resorted to the use of ærial warships and by employing a fleet of “death angels,” she had utterly destroyed theancient city of Fez, the capital of that barbaric North African State, reducing the city into a heap of ruins and causing the slaughter, in less than thirty minutes, of over 175,000 people. Tangier, on the northern boundary of Morocco, a city of 75,000 population, had also suffered the same fate from the Spanish “death angels.” Tangier, with its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes in less than ten minutes.In order to chastise Spain for her wanton cruelty and open violation of the international convention of 1924, a peremptory note was served upon the Madrid authorities, signed by the Treaty Powers, with the names of America and England at the head of the list. It was particularly observed that the signature of the United States of the Americas was underscored, as though to remind Spain that America had not forgotten the wrongs of Cuba.On the 21st day of April, 1930, (just thirty-two years after the declaration of ourHoisting the Storm-signal.first war with Spain,) notice was served upon the Madrid authorities that within thirty days from date, the allied nations of the world would mobilize their ærial war fleets and proceed to devastate Spanish territory. This ultimatum included Ceuta, the Balearic islands, as well as the ever-faithful isles of the Canaries.This international ultimatum was dispatchedin conformity to the terms of the Washington Treaty of 1924, which demanded, irrevocably and without appeal, the extinction of any nation that employed such barbarous methods of warfare as ærial warships and the practice of hurling gun-cotton, dynamite and nitro-glycerine from the skies upon defenceless cities.At last Spanish pride was humbled. With a terrible doom to face, with no friend to counsel, succor or comfort her, Spain was at last brought to the dregs of humiliation.Spain Sheds Crocodile Tears.In vain did that unhappy country plead for leniency and mercy. Spain was willing to sue for peace and safety upon any terms, but in vain did that stricken nation wave the olive branch.The countenance of the world was withdrawn from Spain. The Treaty Powers were obdurate and Spain must suffer for the terrible slaughter of Fez and Tangier. The world in 1930 demanded that an example should be made. It was determined to settle, once and forever, the important question of using dynamite and other fulminants as a weapon of war thrown down from airships. It had been determined that any nation employing such barbarous methods of warfare should be uprooted from the face of the earth.The object and purpose of the thirty-day notice was to allow the entire population,men, women and children, ample time to leave the doomed kingdom. The TreatyThirty Days to Leave Spain.Powers, in seeking to punish Spain, did not wish to sacrifice life. The punishment Spain was to receive consisted in the annihilation of her kingdom and the destruction of her cities and monuments. Like modern Jews, who had lost their Palestine, they were thereafter to be scattered over the face of the globe, with no country and no national ensign of their own. Such was the fiat of the nations in 1930 and this decree was fulfilled to the letter.
Spain, in 1999, was reduced to a mere geographical quantity. Ever after the Spanish unpleasantness with America, in 1898, Spain’s unhappy history had been sliding down a greased pole. From the moment that Columbus discovered America, Spain became a spoiled child of fortune.
In 1492 Spain had a population of 40,000,000 people,—frugal, industrious and prosperous. In the arts and sciences they led the world in those days. In military science and navigation none could equal them. The discovery of America utterly ruined Spain in less than three hundred years. Spaniards thereafter ceased to depend upon their own energy and resources. Intoxicated by the brilliant discoveries of Columbus, the dazzling conquests of Pizarro, Cortes and De Soto, Spain has endeavored since the fifteenth century to enslave the New World and live upon the sweat of others’ brows.
The acquisition of sudden and prodigious wealth in the New World; the steady flowThe Dangers of Sudden Wealth.of money brought into Spain by slave labor; the luxury and voluptuous ease of life thus engendered, form important factors in the history of Spain’s decline. After losing all of her vast possessions in the New World, it was left to America in 1898 to give the Spaniards their coup-de-grâce and check their baggage for Madrid.
In 1942 Spain ceased to possess a government of her own. After a devastating war, (une guerre à l’outrance,) Spain ended her official existence and was parcelled out among the European nations. England, with Gibraltar to start with, secured a generous slice of the Spanish booty. In the twentieth century England was still well inclined to make the best possible use of her opportunities, and America was always glad to advance her cause, whenever it was practicable to do so.
The annihilation of Spain came about after the following manner:
In the year 1917 the world rejoiced at the prospect of a permanent solution of the war problem. The new devices invented and perfected by the deviltry of man, to be employed in the destruction of his fellow men, had reached in that year such a degree of perfection that war simply meant the wholesale destruction or total annihilation of those who engaged in it.
In 1917ærialnavigation was practically solved, and a new and vast element hadA New Element in War.opened its possibilities to the will of man. At the close of the nineteenth century the “blue etherial” was wholly unobstructed in its vast extent and still defied the skill of our best inventors. Prof. Langley and his disciples had not yet solved the great question of ærial navigation. In 1899 this most inviting and ever tempting field of research still remained an unsolved mystery. The old fashioned balloon, with no will or control of its own, subject to the whim or caprice of every breath of air, was the best apology we could offer in 1899 for purposes of ærial navigation.
In 1917 the problem of ærial navigation had been practically solved by Tesla, inÆrial Navigation Perfected.whose brain many profound secrets of nature had long been harbored. With the aid and potentiality of electricity, (the slave of the twentieth century), ærial navigation had been perfected. One of the first devices invented for use in the air was the ærial warship, operated and controlled by electricity.
Loaded with a quarter ton of dynamite, these deadly warships, without anyone to navigate them could be made to hover over a city and threaten its populationwith total annihilation. They were popularly called “death angels.” The sight of one of the warships blanched the cheeks of the most intrepid, filling the city or town over which it hovered with utmost consternation.
The human mind recoiled with horror at the thought of war with such fearful enginesSimply Wholesale Murder.of destruction. In fact war carried on with ærial dynamite ships was no longer worthy of being called by that dignified name, it was simply a wholesale destruction of lives and property. With strange inconsistency, the world in 1917 appeared to be willing to wage war on the “retail plan.” It was apparently willing to sacrifice human beings in terrible battles fought between powerfully armed vessels, with heavy rifles and rapid firing guns. The world was willing to slaughter life by one method, yet it held in abhorrence these “death angels,” which accomplished a wholesale instead of a retail destruction of life and property. With an inconsistency peculiarly its own, the world in 1917 appeared quite willing that 50,000 men should be destroyed in a single battle by rapid-firing guns, which could mow down a whole regiment at a time, but the proposition to destroy an army of 50,000 men with one of the deadly ærial warships, was everywhere regarded with horror. By thisdecision the world placed itself in the position of a man who was willing to be killed by the shot of a six-inch rifle, yet strongly objected on the score of humanity to being riddled by the shell of a 14-inch rifle.
War at best is but a relic of barbarism, and, be it waged with ærial warships, or submarine torpedoes, with Mauser rifles or smooth bore guns, it accomplishes the same end; nations are plunged into ruin; the family circle is broken; widows and orphans are left disconsolate.
Be this as it may, in the year 1924, a Congress of the leading nations was held in the city of Washington, (then situated in the State of Mexico,) and, as a result of its deliberations a solemn compact was entered into, signed by the Ambassadors of every civilized nation, and a treaty of the mostÆrial War Ships Prohibited.binding character was ratified, in which it was stipulated that under no conditions, named or unnamed, would the use of ærial warships ever be permitted as an instrument or medium for waging war among nations.
It was furthermore agreed and stipulated between these nations that if, at any future period, any nation on the habitable globe should ever permit itself to employ a system of ærial warships for the prosecution of war, the other signatories of the treaty would make common cause and combine in an attack against the offender. They wouldproceed to invade its territory, destroy its cities and monuments, lay waste its plains, obliterate its flag and name from the family of nations. The remaining property of the violator of the treaty must also be seized and sold, the proceeds to be donated to charitable deeds.
It was further stipulated between the signatory powers that the punishment meted out to any violator of this solemn treaty would be in the same kind as its offending. In other words, a nation that employed the use of ærial warships and practiced the horrible system of dropping from great heights heavy charges of high explosives upon cities, fleets or shipping, would be wiped out from the face of the earth and annihilated by the same methods of destruction.
The first violator of the Washington Treaty of 1924 proved to be Spain, theA Bad Rascal Caught.ancient home and abiding-place of the Holy Inquisition, that reprobate among nations; the emaciated and wasted offspring of priestcraft. To her in 1930 was meted out the condign punishment which she richly deserved for her flagrant violation of the Washington Treaty in prosecuting her war against Morocco. During this war, in the year 1929, Spain had resorted to the use of ærial warships and by employing a fleet of “death angels,” she had utterly destroyed theancient city of Fez, the capital of that barbaric North African State, reducing the city into a heap of ruins and causing the slaughter, in less than thirty minutes, of over 175,000 people. Tangier, on the northern boundary of Morocco, a city of 75,000 population, had also suffered the same fate from the Spanish “death angels.” Tangier, with its inhabitants, was reduced to ashes in less than ten minutes.
In order to chastise Spain for her wanton cruelty and open violation of the international convention of 1924, a peremptory note was served upon the Madrid authorities, signed by the Treaty Powers, with the names of America and England at the head of the list. It was particularly observed that the signature of the United States of the Americas was underscored, as though to remind Spain that America had not forgotten the wrongs of Cuba.
On the 21st day of April, 1930, (just thirty-two years after the declaration of ourHoisting the Storm-signal.first war with Spain,) notice was served upon the Madrid authorities that within thirty days from date, the allied nations of the world would mobilize their ærial war fleets and proceed to devastate Spanish territory. This ultimatum included Ceuta, the Balearic islands, as well as the ever-faithful isles of the Canaries.
This international ultimatum was dispatchedin conformity to the terms of the Washington Treaty of 1924, which demanded, irrevocably and without appeal, the extinction of any nation that employed such barbarous methods of warfare as ærial warships and the practice of hurling gun-cotton, dynamite and nitro-glycerine from the skies upon defenceless cities.
At last Spanish pride was humbled. With a terrible doom to face, with no friend to counsel, succor or comfort her, Spain was at last brought to the dregs of humiliation.Spain Sheds Crocodile Tears.In vain did that unhappy country plead for leniency and mercy. Spain was willing to sue for peace and safety upon any terms, but in vain did that stricken nation wave the olive branch.
The countenance of the world was withdrawn from Spain. The Treaty Powers were obdurate and Spain must suffer for the terrible slaughter of Fez and Tangier. The world in 1930 demanded that an example should be made. It was determined to settle, once and forever, the important question of using dynamite and other fulminants as a weapon of war thrown down from airships. It had been determined that any nation employing such barbarous methods of warfare should be uprooted from the face of the earth.
The object and purpose of the thirty-day notice was to allow the entire population,men, women and children, ample time to leave the doomed kingdom. The TreatyThirty Days to Leave Spain.Powers, in seeking to punish Spain, did not wish to sacrifice life. The punishment Spain was to receive consisted in the annihilation of her kingdom and the destruction of her cities and monuments. Like modern Jews, who had lost their Palestine, they were thereafter to be scattered over the face of the globe, with no country and no national ensign of their own. Such was the fiat of the nations in 1930 and this decree was fulfilled to the letter.