The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-10

because they cannot contend with clouds.
The principal arm OF the guerilla is not
the blunderbuss or the rife; II Is the
earth. yes the earth, because, owing TO
the facility and marvellous efficiency with
which the guerilla moves, 1t appears TO
modify itself at each STEP leading itself
to their maneuvers.
Figure TO yourself that the soil arms
itself for self-defense against the inva-
sion, that the hills, the rivulets, the rocks,
the defiles, the mOrasses, the caverns, are
mortiferOus machines that take conscious
part in the encounter with the regular
troops and erect themselves sink, roll
and fall upon, flatten. submerge, suffO-
cate separate and destroy them. Those
mountains that tower yonder and now
appear mere: those ravines which multi
ply their windings; those Inaccessible
peaks that discharge bullets; those thou-
sand little rives which, thefr right bank
being conquered, turn and reveal upon
their left bank innumerable foes those
nights, upon one side of which the que
rillas have been destroyed, then offer the
other side, upon which the guerillaS de-
stroy the army marching by; this, and
solely this, is partisan warfarei II Is the
land in arms, the territory, the geography
moving itself in fight
The populace in Spain offers three types
the guerilla, the smuggler and the. high
way rObber. The aspect is the same; only
in the moral sense is there difference be-
tween them Any of these types can he
one of the other two without any external
variation, according as a grain OF moral
sense more or less falls in the conscience.
The bands of partsans that form so cas-
lily in Spain may be consumately good or
eXecrably bad. Should we glorifY this
special aptitude of Spaniards for cOnsti-
tuting themselV es armed bodies and op-
posing etfcacious resistance to regular
armies? Are the benefits of one day such
that they can make US forget the calam-
tiles of another day. This / do not say,
and, least of ALL in this book where l
propose to eXtol the exploits of a notable
guerrilla chief. whose conduct was al
ways moved by gentle impulses; who was
d1Sintcrested, generous, loyal and had
no moral relationship with the factions
or smugglers or rt1fiians and whose pur-
pose was very laudable-being the clean
ing Of spain from the French.
The war of Independence was the great
school Of the Spanish pOpulace, because in
it they were given the high est training in
the art to others incOmprel1 ensible. of inn
provising armies and dominating, for more
or less time. a territory; they learned in
surreOtion as science, and the wondrouS
| achievements of that time we have since
| wept with tears of blood. But why so
much constituencies? The guerrillas cons IT,
tute our national essence. They are our
| body and our sOuH they are the spirit, the
| genius. the history Of -Soain. They are all
! grandeur and misery, a fornisss conpunc-
| ton Of contrary qualities. noblenes5 dis
! posed 70 hero.srn, saVagely inclined to
At one time Juan Martin and his guerril-
| II forces were surrounded by an over
| whelming army of French soldiers. and
| supposedly almost eXterminated. Many,
! taken prisoners, were deliberately butch
cred after the battle was over. Martin
was officially reported dead-just as Cuban
leaders frequently are-and the invade rs
| felicitated themselves upon having com
! pletely wiped out" their most dreaded
| foes. But within a few weeks the re-
| dOubtable chief with a new swarm OF
! guerrilas suddenly swooDed down on a
! large French detachment and left none
| of them alive when the engagement was
| over. Speaking of the formation of that
! new force, Galdos says: the guerrillas
| do not need like the armies, a thousand
! prolix preliminaries in order TO organize
| themselves. They organize as they dis
| solve, by instinct by the mysterious law
| of their reStless and turbulent nature
! They dispense themselves like the smoke
upon being vanquished, and they condense
! like the ospheric vapors in order tc
| pour down upon the enemy when he least
| expects it"