The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-25
roArAcrrr or rHE arANIAHDA.
A Retired French Naval Oaicer's ObServa-
tions OF the Manila Fight.

lions Of the Manila Etghts
The Co,yyje- DIES Eats Unis is publishing
n series OF letters from Manila. one OF when
gives an account OF the battle OF Cayite py n
retired French naval oficer who lived TOT,
long time in the Philippine Islands. and wnosH
country house was situated between Csvlte
and Manila. The views OF the Fronchman
are interesting. especially because they seeh
utterly devoid of all prejudice.
Now. monsieur asked the correspondent,
since your house was 40 neat the scene OF the
battle, be good enough to tell ms h the al
fair looked like"
well. 1 will tell you the thing simply and Just
as IL occurred. At 5 o'clock that morning
was in bed. / heard a long. dull scrnd. 1
thought that IL was a signal announcing the
arrival OF q French or an English vessel. NY
wife awoke and asked. What is thatT It's
simply a signal said I. Two minutes after
ward there was another cannon shot. Hell
lol What's this2' saidI. rs II something Sc
rious? That certainly can't be a signal
jumped up and looked out OF the window. 1
could see nothing but n little curtain OF fog
and q little smoke. Then, to frighten my
wife with what / believed was q little practical
Joke. 1 shouted, The American fieetV l
looked out again. The fog was gone. and,
sure enough. / counted seven American shipe
in line; They were ,i ad van y !wS, slo SUE la
me tell You that what I said to you q moment
ago by way OF a Joke was really 2 fGct~ Here
with fear, None Of that eaidT. Cover your
head e the 6sdclsothsss and put cotton in your
up0n S GSsHfsaSeq where s ! iii sfe The Spanish s. Tss b saSsn %srs
heaped together like mice IN a tran; The
q terrible Are. They m~sneuyred. for. a while
and finally, PLACED themselves two by two. the
two at the right, two at the left, all facing the
spaniards: AZ half.past 2 there was not. a
s,nSi0 or pi Sarned. v9s The d iire Or "a The " Smer ptsaSs
was excellent. indeed, wonderful. Each shot
aIau the 81 % d1st vb | Soq 4 n sss thS es% IsIl On aa aSd the
It was q magnificent piece Of firing practice"
But didn't the batteries fre?. o.
shsiis Of the. Americans. y was sbsql,utsis
accuracy esSreS Of 't the american 'sSeotins. Ass4f
said, every shot seemed to hit the marx"
we're N0 miad ieh BY Us the SeV Consular snH pc CORES. snd es spee
cially by, the German Consul. In regard to
some broken promises"
iards' came to the French Consul and pro-
tested 70 him on the day Of the battle, was
sRer 3 a. o sne ! !seSor 1 Uonysu Mer seS Sopit 6ons snf
They fired at rs with shells that burnt Il
S1r T I sse 5sR1s% u. DID 6pi@ You Spa spap Sas1is pro.
test est. in Ror $50 Om When e5.d ss TI,R u5sl,s B .h6p t,, and
Ind e weTe TWO USm MONTHS T neo. S9 %hen 'G you On mssE
spcTed a lot Of insSrgepts. It was also with
i Si1h a TaYs stu sSBSP1sESS but th hseE live sr IN PtSSaSa or E say
1910. The, hqye not changed one pit since
only heroes they speak Of. They do not seem
to to know that 2 great many new things have
shells. new powders. machines. electricity.
NOW. monsieur. do you believe that with
tivated nation, the Philippines would be a val
Marvellous. perfectly marvellousl In the
Philippines there are untold riches and their
situation is perfectly unique. Among other
caicSiabie Quantity Of preoitcus woods. And
to all these must be added coffee. tobacco and
but it has, never been exploited"
Have the natives really suffered much from
just fancy that at Marlyeles. at the entrance
eann Al Isi' just I'll" think X Of "h that! Th nsS' are are
very, gentle and they do not cause much
human flesh !" ali the same. and that las propensity open ify
II $Ff XII 2 + 2 s sSS5sS sP s ILL., Il : yh SHs and thas Is
How comes it that the Spaniards did moth
ing? Why did not the Governor risk . coHp
would have been under the fire Of the Ameri-
But they had field pieces and it would not
REQUIRE very heavy projectiles TO pierce the
"Oh yes. they had field pieces. but they
were worthless. In fact. they had nothing to
speak OF. Disorder, was everywhere; the in
surgents surroulded the town on all sides and
Spaniards found themselves threatened by
everybody. both In the town and outside OF II.
Now that the Spaniards are beaten. they are
busy with a problem which. with their tenn
permanent. 1t will be difficult for them to solve.
They want to find out the cause Of their de-
feat and they seek for It everywhere except in
And yet that Is just whore 1t is"