The times., 1898-07-18

gets through with its target practice off
CadiZ, Cartagena, and Barcelona, the
stay -at-home Spaniards will have n
very different idea Of what the Ameri-
can gunner can do when he is turned
loose. Covering in her own front door
Spain will learn from an object lesson
what she has so long refused to believe
and then she will want to quit fighting.
1t is said that Commodore Watson's
| first move will be to take the Canaries
and then establish either there or at
| Ceuta, Spain's African penal colony, a
naval base of operations Then he Will
commence operations against the Span
| ish coast, provided Camara does not
| furnish a diversion.
Spain's peninsular coast line is bold
and precipitous, but the principal sea-
ports can almost all be shelled from the
| open sea, and therefore cannot be de-
| Tended by torpedoes, valuable only in
| shallow bays and harbors. The coast
! defenses are mostly ancient and many
of their guns of an obsolete class, such
as were used in our Civil War. Some
modern guns. however, have lately been
CItINCd III pOS4lLOilci " iIICll
| improvements are now going on.
| The map shows three coasts. one TO
the northward, bordering on the Allan
! tic Ocean, 430 miles long; one 10 the
| southwark, with a seaboard on the At
| lantic $50 miles long, and the third to
! the eastward, on the Med ,serranean, 119
| miles long, a total stretch of shore Of
! 1880 miles. The southeast and east
| cf rlx nf
| raj harbors. Artificial harbors, how
! ever, have been constructed at Malaga,
| Almeria, Cartagena, Alicante, Valencia,
| Tarragona, and Barcelona.
On paper all these ports are strongly
| fortified, and most of them the Span
| iards believe 10 be impTegnable. But
/ the Spanish sometimes build their forts
as Weyier won his victories.
There are three great naval stations
in Spain-Ferrol, on the north coast,
| above Portugal; Cadiz, below Portugal,
and Cartagena, IN the Mediterranean.
| Ferrol is the strongest and may be
| called the citadel OF Spain. The town
| is invisible from the sea, and its STR
| rounding hills are. strongly fortified
| with the most improved guns, including
| twelVe-inch and ten-inch rifles and
| modern mortar batteries. The arsenal
one of the three largest of the king
! dom-is back of the city. on the harbor,
and with its wharfs and dockyards ex-
ceeds twenty-five acres in extent.
Historic CadiZ is the most eIaborately
fortified of the three naval stations but
| the city itself lies directly exposed TO
an attack from the sea. The navy yard
is five miles back from the ocean. 1t
| has all facilities for building and re-
pairing warshipS A large factory for
guns is situated here.
Much of the glory of Cadiz has de-
parted, but it must still be ranked as
| one of the finest cities in Spain. II is
surrounded by a wall that is nearly
seven miles in length and stands on the
| tip of tongue of land extending five
miles into the sea from the Isla de
Leon. This strip of land, with the
| mainland, forms two bays. The outer
bay is more than thirty miles in circum-
! ference-a splendid land-locked harbor.
There are two forts. San Sebastian
and Santa Catalina, on the extremity of
the peninsula, between the city and the
Atlantic, and Fort Montague and Pan
| tacls Castle on either side of the en-
trance to the lower bay. At about the
center of the isthmus strong intrench-
| ment extends al length to prevent a
hostile landing back Of the city.
The bastions and ramparts around
the city itself are strong and up to
date. There are four 12-inch disappear
| ing guns at CadiZ, beside the neces-
sary number of smaller guns and good
mortar batteries.
Our vessels would venture no nearer
than about two miles offshore, where
lies a threatening chain of sunken
| rocks. Yet even at a distance of seven
miles our fast cruisers could use their
| great guns with some effect At two
] miles II-p1IiH a
| view of the arsenal and drydocks, and
would have no difficulty in deprivine
| the dons of their strongest naval sta
! ton.
Along the Mediterranean lie Spain's
| richest seacoast cities. Since our great
and good friend John Bull holds the
only match which can explode the
great volcano of Gibraltar, we could
scrape past this with impunity, avoid.
ing Tarrifa, a small Spanish isle east
of the great rock and probably the bes,
fortified post belonging to the enemy
From Gibraltar east along the Medit-
| erranean, the shore line forms an ele-
waited rampant extending seventy mile:
to Malaga. At the eXtremities have
| been erected strong defensive works
and between these are scattered Span.
ish guard and watch-houses. Malaga
lies on a level plain, close to the sea
and can be readily sheIled. Proceed.
ing on toward Barcelona, we would
pass seven good-sized ports
| Cartagena, foremost of these, and ar
important seat of commerce, could bt
/ approached by an open roadstead d
whence we could shell the factory fol
making the famous Hontoria guns OF
the Spanish navy and numerous ware.
houses for storing arms and ammuni.
ton. Spain would thus lose its princi.
pal base of army supplies. The de.
lenses to be overcome consist of eight
and ten-inch guns, mounted at the enc
of a mole extending a mile from the
shore. Behind these, in the city, ar,
numerous guns of smaller caliber.
Farther to the east we would fin(
Barcelona, one of the principal manu-
featuring centers of Europe. Attempt:
would be made to explode the grea1
powder works here and to destroy ont
of Spain's largest factories for making
small arms. 1t is defended by a deze1
powerful guns Of ten and twelve-incl
caliber, but could be readily approached
by heavy vessels. The fall of Barcelona
would mean the ruin Of Spain'S Medit
| erranean commerce and a loss almos
as serious as that of New York woult
be to us.
Commodore John Crittenden Watson
to whom has been intrusted the task o
striking this body blow at Spain, ma,
be depended on to put lots of vim an
vigor into the affair. His naval caree