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 latitude, 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 latitude and ten of longtitude, 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.