Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1898-12-10
iNCAPACIrY OF spAN,ARDS.
Retired French Naval Officers Obscr'
Vatious of tina Manila Iiuht,

Tile Courier DIES Etas-tnis Is pub
fishing series of letters from Manila.
one of which gives an account of the
battle of Cavitc Ivy retired French
naval officer who lived for long time
in the Philippine Islands. aud whose
country house was situated between
Cavitc and Manila. The views of the
Frcnchman are interesting. especially
because they seem utterly devoid of all
prcjudicc.
Now. monsieur" asked the CORE.
spondent. 'since your house was so
near the scene of the battle. he good
enough to tell us what the affair look
ed like"
We'll. will tell you the thing simply
and just as it occurred. At ) o'clock
that morning I was IN bed. I heard a
long. dull sound. thought that 1t was
a signal announcing the arrival of n
French or an English vessel. My wife
awokc and asked. Who's thatT 1T Is
simply a signal said I. Two minutes
afterward there was another cannon
shot. Hello. What's thisT said l. is
1t something serious? That certainly
can't be "A signal Jumped up and
looked out of the window. could see
| nothing but litie curtain of fog and
n little smoke. Then. to frlghtcn my
wife with what believed was a little
practical Joke. | shouted. The Ameri.
can fleet" I looked out again. The
fog was gone. and. sure enough.
counted seven ships in line. They were
advancing very slowly. I came back to
my wife and said: We'll. now. let me
tell you that what I said to you mo-
ment ago by way of q 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
bcdclothcs and put cotton in your ears
If you want to. but keep quiet
II watched the fleet. 1t was advanc.
| ing upon Cavite. where all the Spanish
boats were hcaped together like mice
in trap. The Americans were soon
| upon them ana opened a terrible fire.
They Unanswered for a while. and fin
ally placed themselves two by two. the
two largest in the rear. ana the others
| I'm 'front.' two ut the right. two at the
left. all facing the Spaniards. At 1:3O
o'clock there was not n single Spanish
vessel afloat: all were either sunk or
burned. The fire Of the Americans was
excellent indeed. wonderful. Each
shot hit the mark. could see the
smoke ana the cloud OF dust when a
| projcc,llc fell on shore. 1t was u mag.
nlhcent piece Of firing practice"
NJ .r..s. Al. La. al. st,s..s
"Oh. yes. the battery at Cavtc fired Il
few shots. but 1t was quickly dcmolisli.
| cd by the shells of the Americans. 1t
was absolutely reduced to cinders. |
| admired greatly the accuracy of the
| American shooting. AS ! said. every
| shot seemed to hit the mark
"Now. tell us about The prOtcstatiOns
that were made by the consular corps.
ana especially by the German consul,
| IN regard to some broker PROMISE"
| There were no proiestatlons. The
| Spaniarls came to the French consul
and protested to him on the day of the
battle. I was there ut the time. They
were excited and shouted out: 'SenOi
Consul! Senior Consul. They fired al
us with shells that burst" 1t was
who replied to them: All! shells thai
burst. ! exclaimed. Did YOU Spanlards
protest In 1870 when Strasburg. Bel
fort. and Paris were bombarded will
shells that burst? And even two month,
ago. when you massacrcd n lot OF In
surgen,s, It was also with shells tina
burst. But that Is the way Away,
with the Spaninrds. They are proud
valiant and stubborn. but they live II
1850 or. say, 1910. They have no
changed one bit since then. Charles v.
Cortcz and I.cgazpl are the only herOe,
they speak of. They do not seem I,
know that u great many new things
have been Introduced since that time
among others shells, new powders. ma
chimes, electricity, etc"
"Now. monsieur, do you believe tina
! with the wise administration of q far
seeing and cultivated nation the Phil
ippines would be u valuable cOlOny!"
Marvellous. perfectly marvellous! i
the Philippines there are untold richie
and their situation Is perfectly unique
/. Among other things there are sugar
| IlCt, anu uu iuSNbN""oN VuNb
tity of precious woods. And to all thes
must he added coffee. tobacco ana tn
mines. In fact. the subsOil Is wort
, gold. hut 1t has never been exploited.
Have the natives really suffcre
much from the Spaniards?'
"Oh. yes. very much; that is lncor
tcslablc. The Spaniards never did an,
. thing for them. Just fancy that Il
Marlveles. at the entrance to the ba!
there are stlll cannibals. Yes. sir, cal
I nibals. Just think of that. They IN
I very gentle and they do not cause niue
r trouble, ! viii admit. hut they have
taste for human flesh ali the same, an
that propensity has never been checke
; by the Spanlards. They go to chnrc
il. once in n while. and that is all that
demanded of them