The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-09
Mhr ,LlIes Coo. 20 Cuba.

W ny miles toes 10 I ubd.
1T is stated that Cen Miles does not go
to Santiago for the purpose Of superseding
! Gen. Shafter in command of our army
there. and that he viii not take command
| unless he finds on his arrival that Gen.
! Shafter Is loo az to discharge the duties
OF his very responsible position. It is prob
! able. however. that he VIII give Gen. Shat
Ter such assistance as may seem to him TO
bt. necessary. The understanding appears
TO be that after the fan of Santiago an eX-
| petition against Pose Rico win be organ
lied at once. and that Gen. Miles wiz have
! command Of it, The greater part of the
| troops at Santiago viii. in all probability
/ be included in the Porto Rico expedition.
! Gen. Miles has been complaining that he
! has not had chance yet to distinguish
| himself. 1t looks as if he We're about to
have a chance. If he finds it necessary to
! take command at Santiago the chance will
come sooner than he expected.
Some of the correspondents at Santiago
| notably Richard Harding DAVIS, have crltl-
cised Gen. Skaters management of the
! campaign quite severe Mt Davis says that
| he states the views of brigade command
| ers. He thinks that Gen. Shafter ought
| to be az the front instead of so far in the
rear Of the army and that if he is too i'll
to be al the front he ought TO be relieved
! of his command
! We 90 not undertake to say how well
| prepared Mr. Davis is TO say whether or
not Gen. Shafter is qualified for the posi-
! ton be holds. The chances are that he but
reflects the views of officers who are not
| altogether satisfied with Gen. Shafter. 1t
seems TO us that the President and his mil
itary advisers at Washington are RESPONSE
bic for most of the mistakes which Gen
| Shafter has made. He was sent to Sanu-
ago without the necessary equipment For
| instance when he arrived on the Cuban
| coast he was without the means for land
Ing his siege guns.
| 1t IS true that he startea~frQm Tampa
with a lighter for that purpose, but he
ought to have had half a dozen, so that If
| he had lost one on the trip he would
not have been practically helpless
in his efforts to land his siege
/ guns, horses, mules and supplies
After he had landed he was well
Santiago until he was fully prepared 10 do
So but the President and his military ad-
visers, if what is appearing in the public
prints is correct, were urging him all the
time TO hasten the movement The idea
was constantly thrown out that Santiago
should be taken by July 4. We do not know
! that the President or Secretary of War
urged him to take the place by that time,
but st would not be surprising if such was
the case. The newspapers certainly kept
urging the necessity for haste.
The truth probably is that Gen. Shafter
was urged forward against his better
Judgment and gave battle to the Spaniards
! before he was ready 10 do so. He did not
expect to find the enemy so Wen entrench-
ed, so well armed and so stubborn. Had he
been given time to make a thorough study
of the situation he would not have attempt
ed 10 take Santiago, in all probability, un-
til his siege guns were in position and he
had a sufficient force to insure success.
| We DO not know what kind of guns his
men are armed with, but It is probable that
many of them carry Springfield rifles,
/ while the Spaniards are armed with Maui
/ ser rifles. Another great advantage which
the Spaniards have is smokeless powder.
That advantage has been referred to many
times in the dispatches. And who is TO
blame for the fact that the
enemy has these advantages
! Not Gen. Shafter Congress
alone is to blame-Congress that persistent
ly refused for years to properly provide for
the national defense. and then rushed the
country into war knowing that it wasn't
prepared for it,
We do not of course, know whether OF
not Gen. Shafter is unequal to the posi-
ton which ne occupies, but we do know
that the men under his command have
shown splendid cOurage-courage such as
is seldom seen on the battle field, and thai
IF they received a Temporary check at San
tiago thefault was not theirs.