The San Francisco call., 1898-05-04
LEARNING THE TRUTH AT LAST Madrid Press DenOunceS the ent'S
 Deception. Spa aniards Had Been Led to T Believe the Manila Har-
 bor lnnpregnabIe.
Saqasta Regime Said to Have Deliv- cred Senmen over to Aneri-
 can Grapeshot.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

MADRID, May 3.-Referring to the increased censorship and the cautions issued by General Daban with refer ence to the publication of news. re- pressing the transmission even of editorials from the Madrid journals, E Nacional exclaims:
 What Is taking place in the tele- graphic service is truly scandalous. Sc far as provincial correspondents are concerned, the Black Cabinet has seldom worked so thoroughly as at the present moment, when it depends upon a Minister who calls himself Liberal This irritation Is sharply provoked by the Governments suppressions as to the battle at Manila
 Commenting upon it El Nacional, which Is the organ of the Weylerite party, says: Yesterday, when the first intelligence arrived, nothing better occurred to Admiral Bermejo (Minister of Marine) than to send to all the newspapers comparative statistics of the two contending sQuadrons. By this comparison he sought to direct public attention to the immense superiority of squadron of ironclads over a squad ron of wooden vessels, dried by the heat In those attitudes.
 Spain undoubtedly sees therein the heroism of our marines, but she also and above all sees the nefarious crime of the Government. It Is unfair to blame the enemy for possessing forces superior to ours, but what is worthy of being blamed with all possible vehe- mence is this infamous Government. which allowed our inferiority without neutralizing it by some means of pre- parationS.
 
 Fl Nacional continues: "A good bat tery off Corregidor Island with great ref1ectors and guns capable of sweep ing the seas for miles around would have kept the American squadron out of the bay. In Corregidor there were only a few wretched guns taken from warships a few days ago. This Is the truth. Our sailors have been baSely delivered over to the grapeshot of the Yankees. a fate nobler and more worthy of respect than those baneful Ministers who brought about the first victory and it's first victims"
 Fl Heraldo de Madrid says: "It was no caprice of the fortunes of war From the very first cannon shot our fragile ships were at the mercy of the formid- able hostile squadron. They were con- demned to fall, one after another, un- der the fire of the American batteries, powerleSS to strike, and were defended only by the valor in the breasts of their sailors. What has been gained by the illusion that Manila was fortified ? What has been gained by the intima- ton that the broad and beautiful bay on whose bosom the Spanish fleet per ished had been rendered inaccessible? !? What use was made of the Island of Corregidor? What was done with it's guns? Where were the torpedoes? Where were those defensive prepara- tions concerning which we were re- quested to keep silent?"
 Fl Heraldo, referring further on to the extent of the disaster. says: "We cannot define it. The Government has not defined it for the information of the country, and although the greater DOT tion of yesterdays cabinet council was devoted to the subject the Government has refused to issue even a note, leav- ing us in ignorance respecting it's views on this fateful event. There is nothing rash in the suspicion that the Govern ment's attitude in this matter is de- sire to hide a part of the truth. This, however, Is a baneful mistake"