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.
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