The times., 1898-07-11
CADIz AS IT is TO-DAY.
An Ancient Fortress With Guns OF
Antique Type.

Antique Type.
New York, July 1O.-If our navy should
attack the Spanish coast Cadiz probably
would be one of the first places lombard
ed A correspondent of the London Mail
recently visited that seaport. of which he
gives the following account:
'The town of Cadiz, shaped something
like the diamond of a playing card, lies al
the extremity of a narrow isthmus which
runs some five miles into the sea, across
the mouth of the bay of the same name.
The longer diameter of the diamond is
little more than a mile in length. Stu
ated on a rock which nowhere rises to
any great height about the sea, the whole
city. which in its time has been fort
ress of extraordinary strength, is sur
rounded by fine ramparts, which still
abound with batteries and fortifca tons of
past date. The chief OF these forts,
which is known as the castle of San Sc
bastian, lies at the seaward extremity of
the diamond, to which II is connected by
a narrow spit of land.
From the sea it is possible to observe
that this ancient position has been re-
Gently armed with at least three Of those
long-barreled cannon which claim mod
ern origin. The large lighthouse at this
point, which had long been q WeIl-known
landmark, has been pulled down quite re-
Gently. Various portions of the ramparts
have also been rearmed curing the past
few months. In their case, however.
though the mounting is evidently new.
the guns are muzZle-loaders Of a short
| thick type, very similar IN appearance to
| the seven-ton guns with which our own
Isle of Wight forts were supplied about
| 1870. CuriouSly enough. these guns AT
| Cadfz have not been mounted in front of
| the old embrasures of the low wall which
| surmounts the rdmparts They are there
| fore, quite invisible from the sea at pres
| ent. bat new embrasures must be made
| in front Of them before they can be used.
| unless the ancient walls are 10 be knock
| ed down and disfigured by the Spaniards
| themselves.
The arsenal at Cadiz is in the suburb
! of st. Fernando. situated at the bottom
| of Cadiz Bay. and some seven miles from
| the city II is impossible for a stranger
to make any inspection of the works. as
| to which secrecy is so carefully main
| tanned that Englfshmen though duly pro-
| vided with passports, have here been ar
| rested without being allowed TO leave the
| platform of the railway station. One feels
| that this would hardly be the case if the
| products and arrangements of the arsenal
were worthy of any praiseworthy COM
ment.
THE city itself Is fun of soldiers and
sailors and at first sight presents a very
| martial aspect. But little quiet con-
sideration much reduces ones ffrsr i'm
| preston. There is. without question. a
| fair number of well-disciplined and SOL
| dier-like artillery, who are quartered in
the fine old barracks that lie alongside
| the batteries on the ramparts. and many
| of the sailors and marines who come
| ashore from the fleet seem good men
| enough. But by far the bulk of the gar
| rison of Cadiz seems to be composed of
| the rawest and youngest infantry re-
cruits-boyS that would never have been
called TO serve at so early an age but
| for the drain that Spain has suffered on
| It's military conscription during the last
| three years. Very occasionally you will
| see company or two being put through
| some elementary lessons in formation OF
| battalion drill, but such things are as pa
rades on any large scale seem entirely
| unknown. The boys, though understood,
| look hearty and strong, but they would
| surely be none the worse for a course
| of route marching or a series of maneu-
| vers. But nothing of the kind seems ever
| to be attempted.
presumably there are rifles for arm
| ing lHeSe yuutHIui leVleS. DuI one Won
| ders if they often have the handling of
| them. Rifle ranges seem to be entirely
non-existent, and during my sojourn in
r Spain / have not heard on any single
occasion even the rattle of blank cart
| ridge, whether in volleys or individual
| firing. Similarly 1 have never seen or
| heard any artillery or big gun practice.
whether at a target or otherwise. One is
| consequently not surprised to read in the
| papers about the bad shooting of the
| Spanish gunners in Cuba and in the
| Philippines. And 1t seems only too pos
| sible that the rife firing of the infantry
will prove equally ineffective. To have
| some knowledge of fire discipline and to
| receive due instruction in the use of the
| non-repeating Mauser rife, with which
| the Spanish troops are armed, would
| seem to be at least equally important TO
| the infantry as to be taught to march in
| step.
| And when one looks across the bay to
| the row of ships in which is said TO lie
| Spain's sole remaining chance of better
| ing her present position, one is forced to
| doubt whether their crews have attained
| to anything like complete efficiency.