The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-10-05
BATTLE OF MANILA.
A Retired French Naval Officers
Observation About II.
THE SPANlARDS NO GOOD.
They are Dreamers and Dwell In
the Past. The Marksnan-
ship Of the Americans
Excellent.

Excellent.
The Courier des Etats-Unis is pub
fishing series Of letters from Manila.
one of which gives an account OF the
battle of Cavite by a retired French
naval officer who lived for long time
in the Philippine islands, and whose
country house was situated between
Cavite and Manila. The views Of the
Frenchman are interesting, especially
because they seem utterly devoid of all
prejudice.
Now. monsieur asked the CORES
pondent, since your house was so
near the scene of the battle. be good
enough to tell US what the affair looked
like.
well. l will tell you the thing sim
ply and just as it occurred. At 5 clock
that morning l was in bed. l heard a
long, dull sound. | thought that it
was signal announcing the arrival Of
a French or an English vessel My
wife awoke and asked. What is that?
1T is simply a signal, said |. Two
minutes afterward there was another
cannon shot. Hello What's this?
said I. Is it something serious? That
certainly can't be signal. [ jumped
up and looked out of the window. I
could see nothing but little curtain
of fog and a little smoke Then. to
frighten my wife with what | believed
was little practical joke, l shouted.
The American feetr | looked out
again. The fog was gone, and, sure
enough, | counted seven American
ships in line. They were advancing
very slowly. l came back to my wife
and said: Well, now, let me tell you
that what | said to you moment ago
by way of joke was really a fact.
Here the Americans are!' She almost
lost her head with fear. None Of that,
said I. Cover your head in the bed
clothes and put cotton in your ears If
you want to, but keep quiet.
Il watched the fleet. 1t was advan-
cling upon Cavite, where all the Span
ish boats were heaped together like
mice in a trap. The Americans were
soon upon them and opened a terrible
fire. They manoeuvred for while and
finally placed themselves two by two,
the two largest in the rear, and the
others in front. two at the right, two
at the left, all facing the Spauiards.
At 7:30 there was not single Spanish
vessel afoat; all were either sunk or
burned. The fire of the Americans
was excellent, indeed. wonderful. Each
shot hit the mark. l could see the
smoke and the cloud Of dust when q
projectile fell on shore. 1t was mag
nifcent piece of firing practice.
But didn't the batteries fire."
sob, yes, the battery at Cavite fired
few shots, but it was quickly demol-
ished by the shells of the Americans.
1t was absolutely reduced to cinders.
l admired greatly the accuracy of the
American shooting. As I said, every
shot seemed to hit the mark. y
Now, tell US about the protestations
that were made by the consular corps.
and especially by the German consul,
in regard to some broken promises. "
There were no protestations. The
Spaniards came to the French consul
and protested to him on the day of the
battle. l vas there at the time. They
were excited and shouted out: Seno,
consul! Senor consul! They fired at US
with shells that burstr 1t was I who
replied to them: All! shells that
burst!w l exclaimed Did you Span.
iards protest in 1870 when Strasburg,
Belfort and Paris were bombarded with
shells that burst? And even two
months ago, when you massacred lot
of insurgents, it was also with shells
that burst..' But that is the way al
ways with these Spaniards. They are
proud, valiant and stubborn, but they
live in 1850 or gay 1910. They have
not changed one bit since then. Chas
v, Cortez and Legazpi are the only
heroes they speak Of. They do not
seem to know that great many new
things have been introduced since that
time, among others, shells. new pow.
ders, machines, electricity, etc.
'Now, monsieur, do you believe that
with the wise administration Of a far,
seeing and cultivated nation the Phil
ippines would be a valuable colony?
Marvellous, perfectly marvellous! In
the Philippines there are untold riches
and their situation is perfectly unique.
Among other things there are sugar,
hemp, rice and an incalculable quanti-
ty of precious woods. And to all these
must be added coffee, tobacco and the
mines. In fact, the subsoil is worth
gold, but it has never been exploited.
Have the natives really suffered
much from the Spaniards?"
"Oh, yes, very much; that is incon-
testable. The Spaniards never did any
thing for them. Just fancy that at
Mariveles. at the entrance to the bay,
there are still cannibals. Yes, sir, can
nibals, Just think of that. They are
very gentle and they do not cause
much trouble, l will admit, but they
have taste for human flesh all the
same, and that propensity has never
been checked by the Spaniards. They
go to church once in while; and that
is all that is demanded of them.
How comes it that the Spaniards
did nothing? Why did not the COVER
nor risk a coup de main to rccapture
Cavite and the arsenal"
with what? They could do moth
ing. They would have been under the
fire of the American fleet.
But they had field pieces and it
would not rcn,1i ra unry hnayv- nrninc