The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1898-05-12
A Marvellous battle.

In two importnt particulars the bat
tic of Manila hos no counterpart in
history. The story Of it was first told
to the world by the loser. On one
side the destruction was complete,
while the other side escaped virtually
unharmed. The victor is the one that
first announces to his own nation AMI
the rest of mankind the result ofgrcat
battles. Previous to the fight at Man
ila there has been no exception to this
rule in the modern age in the case of
an epoci-making conflict. Oddly
enough. the story ofthe Manila battle
as told by the loser week ago was
substantially correct. True. the first
reports from Madrid on Sunday night
last were misleading, but those which
were sent out a few hours later made
n tOlerablv close approach to absolute
correctness. The calamity for 5. ain
indicate II heavier loss of life than
this. Not an American was killed or
badly injured, and only six were
slightly hurt. TO employ the phrase,
used ty PlutaTch for the fight be-
tween the Spar:ans on one side and
the Arcadians aud Argincs on the
other, in 387 B. c., this was a "tearless
battle" for the Americans, as it was
for the Lacedaemonimls then. The
old warrior who said that no,hing is
SO sad as a great defeat except n
great VICTOR" did not forcsee last
Sundays battle. There was nothing
sad for the Americans in the fight at
Manila.
But tho othe particular connected
with the battle-the fact that the de-
struction Was all on one side-is the
moro marvellous. Spain's entire fleet
eleven vessels, was destroyed, while
not all American ship was damaged.
Among the Spaniards, $50 were killed
aud 400 wounded. These are the fig
ures sent by Dewey, and they will
probably. so far as regards the killed,
be found to be under the mark, for
the number of Spanish vessels which
were blown to pieces or sunk would
was so vast that the Spaniards dared
not attempt to conceal it. Their over
throw was so sudden, so unexpected
and SO crushing that they were dazcd
into telling the truth, SO far as the
the truth could be learned at that
hour.
In still another aspect the battle
was memorable. The American ships
in the darkness sailed into harbOr
defended by powerful fleet, by
many forts supplied by modern guns,
adequately manned, and by mines and
torpedoes which haG been carefully
laid to guard against such invasion
and to destroy the invaders. In
boldncss of conception and audacity
Of execution Dewey's exploit will
will rank beside brakes attack on
the Spanish fleet in the barbor of
Cadiz in 1887, in which he burned,
sunk or captured a large number Of
vessels-a feat which he styled
"singeing the King of Spain's beard"
and with Nelson's destruction of the
Danish war-ships in the harbOr of
Copenhagen in 1901. But the Ger
man and French papers which are
expressing surprise at Dewey's vigor
and daring merely show an ignor-
ance OF the long list Of brilliant
achievements which cast their splen-
dor across century of United States
naval history. Dewey belongs to the
same race as Paul Jones, Barry, Perry
McDoneugh, Decatur, Bainbridge,
Farragut, and the other accomplished
aud intrepid sea warriors whose deeds
have shed an undying glory on the
American name.-Ex.