The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-03
NOT EASY TO CATCH FLEETS.
Some Facts About Long Glasses
Which Are Worth knowing.


To the northumberland American
mind Admiral Cervera's evasion of samo-
son and Schley is forgotten in expecta-
ton. Here are some cod facts from his
tory. 1t took Nelson four months to ind
The feet which he met and destroyed in
Aboukir bay IN 1873.
he b.ockaded for three months in Tou-
lon the French fleet in 1895. and when il
escaped him he chased it 20 the West In
dies and back TO the mouth of the Eng
hsh channel He returned to Gibraltar
ana thence to Cadiz meeting it at Trafal-
Sar by the happiest chance and closed
me voyage of 1900 miles by the most de-
clslVe victory that has ever been known
upon the sea, scaling it with his life.
In the interval he was sent with di-
vision of the fleet into the Baltic. he
sailed on July Y, 1901. and although the
enemy was bottled up" It was MOI until
April that the successful battle Of CO.
penhagen was fought
The Federal ships chased the Alabama
for two years before they found her. and
the Kearsarse was at last able to bring
on conclusive fight off the mole OF
Cherbourg.
The Spanish Armada was looked for
and feared for three years before Howard
and his fleet were able TO encounter them
off Eddystone.
Pompey needed three years to clear the
narrow waters of the Mediterranean of its
piratical fleets.
Don Juan OF Austria sailed for the sue
cessful action of Lepanto but set out
earnestly year before he found it; and
Howe added the glorious victory of June
to the naval annals of Great Britain only
when his fleet had been thrice reftted
and two years had been spent in search for
the enemy
out of these Illustrations let me select
one which indicates something of the de-
lays which make US impatient, but which
history gives us a triumphant result to
be the reasonable expectation of a reason
able and decent patience.
In March, 1905, Vice Admiral Villeneuve
being bloekaded in Toulon by Nelson. just
as We suppose the Spanish fleet is held in
Santiago. escaped and passed out of the
line of observation which the English fleet
had spread about that port Nelson fol-
lowed it across the Atlantic, distant 5000
miles. He chased it by rumor up and
down the Windward Islands for two
months without trace, and returned to Eu-
ropean waters in the vague hope of meet
ing II there, and finally, at daybreak on
the morning of Oct. q, after a pursuit
that had continued for six months, he
found it off Cape Trafalgar. In the ac-
ton which followed he gave his life and
the browning victory to the glory of the
English flag
These are the Illustrations which may
give direction and strength to the pa
thence of the American people, while we
wait for results in the Spanish main.
To these can be added the remarks Of
Commodore Aren't s. Crowninshield
chief of the bureau of navigation, made
over the early breakfast table of the Ra-
leigh, in Washington, the best hotel in
the United States. To him said his ac-
lon
that you must need to find the Spanish
fleet, when you should breakfast at
dairy where pie stands on the shelf and
milk on the counter?"
: Sir said the commodore 'it is be-
cause I breakfast here so early that l
am able to avoid the dairy and the pie
and milk, but that does not help me TO
make you laymen understand that the
Caribbean sea is as large as the valley
OF the Mississippi, and that through the
channels of the Windward Islands thou
sand fleets might pass into it without be.
ing discovered. 1t seems to me that the
public mind has conceived the value of
naval operations in the Spanish main by
the limits they grasp from a map pub
hshed in newspaper. To go around
Cuba is voyage almost as considerable
as 10 cross the Atlantic and to pass from
Porto Rico TO Key West is as much of
journey for a ship as from New York To
I1dNdud OF from f1dllIaX 10 queenstown.
A senator said to me the other day, DO
you mean to say that you are unable to
see the Spanish fleet in those narrow
seas? and l explained to him with more
patience than respect that from the high
est point of observation on the flagship
we could see ten miles in favorable
weather a dash of smoke against a clear
sky, and the sea itself was as long as the
railway by which one travels from St
Paul to Los Angeles"
1t is barely possible that reflections like
these may curb the Impotence of those
who fancy that war begins at sunrise and
is completed with peace or victory at sun
set If Schey or Sampson should be
able to locate the fleet of the Spanish
forces within two months so as to bring
about a decisive action, either of them
would accomplish what Nelson failed to
do under circumstances scarcely less ia
vorable in the French and English war
That Dewey has been able to bring about
prompter results, although none the less
to his credit, is a happy accident of condi-
lions which we may scarcely hope to find
a parallel for in the present struggle. ana
may vainly seek for in the history of the
past.