ater
brilliancy than when she claimed to be mistress of the world. But, on
this occasion, when she opposed, in brave but disbanded groups, the
invasion of the French legions, she gave another proof of the
individualistic instincts of the race, as opposed to all social and
compact organization of the masses.

The Carlist wars need but a passing remark. They were not national; they
were caused by the ambitions of rulers and noblemen, and fought out by
the inhabitants of Navarra and the Basque Provinces who upheld their
_fueros_, by paid soldiery, and by _aldeanos_ whose houses and families
were threatened.

* * * * *

New Spain was born a few years ago, but so far she has given no proof of
vitality. As it is, she is cumbered by traditions and harassed by
memories. She must fight a sharp battle with existing evil institutions
handed down to her as a questionable legacy from the past.

If she emerge victorious from the struggle, universal history will hear
her name again, for the country is not _gastado_ or degenerate, as many
would have us believe.

If she fail to throw overboard the worthless and superfluous ballast, it
is possible that the ship of state will founder--and then, who knows?

In the meantime, let us not misjudge the Spaniard nor throw stones at
his broken glass mansion. To help us in this, let us remember that
unexpected vicissitudes, entirely foreign to his country, were the cause
of his illusory grandeur in the sixteenth century. Besides, no more
ardent a lover of individual (not social) freedom than the Spaniard
breathes in this wide world of ours--excepting it be the Moor.

Under the circumstances he is to be admired--even pitied.

III

ARCHITECTURAL ARABESQUES

_Preliminaries_

The different periods mentioned in the preceding chapter are
characterized by a corresponding art-movement.

The germs of these movements came invariably from abroad. In Spain they
lingered, were localized and grew up, a species of hybrid plants in
which the foreign element was still visible, though it had undergone a
series of changes, due either to the addition of other elements, to the
inventive genius of the artist-architect, or else peculiar to the
locality in which the building was erected.

Other conclusive remarks arrived at in the foregoing study help to
explain the evolution of church architecture. Five were the conclusions:
(1) The power and wealth of the Church,