The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-08-06

the shore, or for the entrance of the har-
bor., The simple order was given, No
man move until further orders And
not a man moved or stirred for nearly an
hour.
"On that same afternoon, by the kind
ness of the gallant commander-In-ch
OF the Spanish forces, Admiral Ceyera-'
Ifhere wera one or two Kisses in the lar
corner of the gallery, and then cheering
began and spread all over the house. 1t
rolled up and down, and the flags and
handkerchiefs came out, and the man
who had been calling for cheers 1or
Jaoky, asked for three for Admiral
Ceryera. They came with roaring
American good will, Mr. Hobson joinln
In them, as he did in that for the Sailors
when" Lieut.. Hobson finally contln,,
ued, ''the party was in prison, and
the mems clothing were permitted to be
brought to them from the fleet, one of
the men, as spokesman for the rest, was
allowed to come over to my cell with
package for me. He said: we would
do it over again tonight. sir (Cheers, }
The next day, when 1t seemed uncer-
tain whether or not q remnant of the
inquiSition was to be revived, when the
enemy did not know whether it was his
fault or ours that a ship had been sunk,
and rather inclined to the belief that he
had sunk an American battleship and
that we were the only survivors out of
several hundred, the men were taken be-
fore the Spanish authorities and serious
and impertinent questions put to them,
Remember, they did not know what it
might cost them to refuse to answer,
Spanish soldiers of the guard standing be-
fore them, making significant gestures
with their hands thus; (Mr. Hobson
passed his hand edgewise across his
throat) our seamen laughed in their
faces (Cheers) Then Spanish major
questioned Charette, because he spoke
French, and asked him this question:
What was your object in coming in
here?' And so long as live 1 shall never
forget the way Charette threw hack his
shoulders, proudly lifted his head and
looked him in the eye, as he said:
Is In the United States navy, sir, it is
not the custom for the seamen to know,
or to desire to know, the object of an
action of his superior officer.
''Take this simple incident, and, after
all, in comparison with the whols war, a
very simple incident the sinking of the
Merrimac, and make your own deduo-
lions as to the quality Of manhood in the
United States navy. You will have, then,
a more or less complete, but certainly not
an overestimated, idea of Jacky.
"My experience with the soldier has
been restricted, but recently saw him
under conditions such that they have con-
yeyed to my mind an accurate estimate
of the men who compose our army. From
my window in the prison of Santiago,
only few hundred yards from the
Spanish intrenohments, | watched our
infantry advancing. saw them practi-
calIy drive the Spaniards into his
trenches. They did not stop there, but
they, unsupported infantry, went on TO
attack the intrenched Spanish infantry.
The enemy's artillery opened on them,
and my heart shrank. IRE
- 1t was fanking artillery ! thought
then that these men of ours, exposed most
of them for the first time to fire, would
hesitate, halt, perhaps retreat to shelter.
But instead, more rapid firing. set In
than before and more rapid rush up to
the trenches One line was followed by
another, until six assaults | counted, and
then the trenches were ours.
"And now, friends, l have nothing
further to say. A sailor cannot go out
side of his experiences with his tongue.
but I really feel that I must refer to the
impression that gained after
I was exchanged and rode down the line
of our army on our way to thu post /
passed, and I said, These men are the
citizens Of my country. They have made
enormous sacrifices, business and personal
to come out here and enter this
in tropical climate during the
rainy season, in the face, not only OF
Spanish weapons, but of disease certain
to come
"When again duty brought me back to
this country / saw that these men In
Cuba were only small portion of those
ready to go to the front. pnssed through
crowded camps, where the only fear was
that each ones company, each ones regi-
Inent. might not have chance to go
where the fighting was being done. /
found that enlistment simply took in
dividuals from among groups, and that
the whole citizen life Of the nation was
ready and willing, and that those who
could not go-the women-were organized
to alleviate the conditions Of those at the
front, and to care for those dependent
left behind. 1t drew to my mind a
picture in the description of which all
senses fail. cannot paint it, cannot
tell about it. The whole nations life
blood will always be at, commend. ready,
when question of the nation is in
yolYed. Our nation is ready to exert it's
enormous influence in behalf of whatever
is right, whatever is progressive, and !
thank heaven that it is vouchsafed to me
to devote my exertions, eeren, / trust, my
whole life, forever to the service of this
country" Se b7, ,,z.,e
SEx-Assistant Secretary of the Navy
McAdoo and Minister to- Spain Stewart
L.. Woodford were the other two speakers
of the meeting, which Melted $500 for the
us ISOLATION under whose auspices it was
held.
WANT CORTEs SUMMONED.