The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

soldiers were to wreath themselves with laurels of
victory till the sun should never set on her
dominions, and all earth should do homage at the
feet of her scepter of greatness.
But 1613, instead of being the beginning of the
greatness and power of Spain, was the apex of her
glory, and that glory was one of infamy. In that
boasted hour of her might--all heretics dead or
driven out--can be heard, even at this late day, the
death knell of her prestige and glory. From that day
forth her glory began to wane, till naught is left today,
save the mistiest shade of a shadow. The
kingdom of Spain had driven out the men who
cultivated her rice and her cotton, and not being
cultivated, they grew no more. She had expelled
from her borders those who had manufactured her
silk and paper, and the ceaseless humming of the
looms and buzzing of the mills no longer
reverberated upon the breezes. The olives and the
vines ceased to yield their increase, for they were
neglected.
“In the sixteenth century and early in the
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