Spain has sold the remains of her Empire in the
Far East —consisting of the Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne Islands, except Guam, which already belongs to America—to Germany for 25,000,000 pesetas,—a sum equal to about £800,000. That Spain will benefit by obtaining such a sum in cash and by being relieved of the very expensive duty of holding the islands is clear. Whether Germany will benefit is another matter. It is calculated that she has given about £25 per head of inhabitants, and it does not appear that the islands have any very great natural resources. Probably, however, the islands will be useful to the Emperor in his work of extorting a fleet from the Reichstag. When once you have islands the need for a fleet is plain. Herr von Billow, in officially communicating the treaty to the Reichstag, gave as the grounds for annexation the need for completing the German possessions in the Pacific. If there was to be any change of ownership, the new owner must be Germany. Spain, we suppose, as a matter of pride, reserves her right to three coal depots—one in each group of islands—for her vessels of war and trade, and she is "to retain the same, even in time of war." The moral questions involved in selling territory are interesting and important. If the inhabitants really agree there is, of course, no ground of complaint, but nothing could justify a Power in selling a province against the will of the inhabitants. However, no one, white or black, will be likely to object to passing from a weak and inefficient Government like that of Spain into the hands of Germany.
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