The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-05
MEDLEY OF WAR NOTES.
An English War Correspondents
Opinion of Our Army.


Opinion of Our Army.
Fernandina, Fla, Aug. 4.-No words of
commentator for our brave boys In the
Santiago campaign have so gratiied me as
the calm, deliberate judgment of Mr.. Sep
pings Wright, the talented and honored
representative Of the London Illustrated
News, writer and an artist of established
and enviable reputation as well as an ex-
perienced war correspondent. During our
long stay at the Tampa Bay Hotel, no one
made a more pleasing and appreciattve
impression than did he. Upon the small
army of war correspondents, and at the
Queens birthday banquet, he was the one
selected to respond for the entire press
gang. A man Of few words and many ster-
ling qualities, his brief response was the
gem of the occasion. And when this writer,
who has seen the valor and endurance Of
the troops of various nations on European
and other battle fields, tells that he never
saw anything before equal to the charge
of our soldiers upon the Spanish lines at
Santiago, our patriotic hearts Should be
aglow with national pride. Seppings
Wright is a cear-headed, dispassoaate
ed by all who know his truthfulness Of
character.
During the early rush of troops to Tam
pa, freight cars We're constantly arriving
from all parts of the country, and when
the report started that there was a re-
ward of ten dollars out for any person who
could find car No. 12,3i5, there was a i've
ly scramble among the soldiers to win the
prize. Later on, however, their enthusiasm
dropped when they learned of The many
unsuccessful efforts that had been ma &c
In the past to find shat particular ear. Up
t. date nobody hos succeeded in winning
the ten dollars said to be awaiting it's dIs-
cCVery.
There was a serious '1eave out" In my
letter about college soldiers which utterly
destroyed the sense and force of the refer
ence. l alluded to the remarkable forced
march and bloody battle of the boys Of the
Virginia Military Institute, at New Mar
ket, Va, on May 15 1864. Out of two hun
dred and fifty cadets eight were killed and
| forty-eight wounded. Shoeless and sock
less many of the brave boys reported at
Camp Lee, in Richmond where the Gov
| ernor presented the corps a beautiful flag
and Speaker Bocock rendered the unani-
nous thanks of the Confederate Congress,
which they had so nobly won, for in that
! famous battle.
Right through the leaden storm
| PRESSED every IaT young form
Manted with glory;
| Never a heart dismayed
Never a faltering blade,
Tho with each step they made,
! Their footprints CORY"
! I might here very appropriately refer
! to the earlier services, not so bloody but
! still as patriotic and daring, of the college
| cadets at Charleston, S. c. In a special
order dated April 80, 1861 Gen. Beauregard
relieves them from duty in the following
| complimentary terms:
| THE services of the company of college
cadets being no longer required by the
! present exigencies, it is relieved from duty
! on Sulivans Island. In relieving
this company the brigadier general COM
handing takes the opportunity to COM
mend them for the alacrity and zeal with
which they came forward in the defense of
| their country, and for their soldiery bear
| ing While in service. He recommends
| them to return to their college, keep up
their organization and discipline, and when
| their services are again needed he will
take great pleasure in calling for them"
The July issue of the Outlook magazine
| gives emphasis to what 1 wrote recently
! of colleges and universities as nurseries
/ for patriots and heroes. Everywhere on
| the commencement stage and al the alumni
! dinners" says the editor the note of love
| of country and of passionate desire to
| leges, always in closest touch with the
popular life, have responded to the ap-
! peal of the government for men with a
noble generosity. Every college was able
| to enumerate the names of its graduates
in the Philippines, in Cuba, or in the
camps, and ii was not unnatural that the
| significance of this war, as showing the
controlling importance of education, should
/ be emphasized. This is emphatically
war of trained against unframed men. We
shall succeed not by virtue of a courage
superior to that OF the Spaniards, but by
virtue of a more thorough education, both
in character and in the arts of war" How
true all this-then prediction-has proved
to be is seen in the startling events that
have succeeded Its publication. With one
exception our victories on land and sea
have been almost bloodless, and our flag
of freedom now floats over a half-dozen
isles of the sea-"
In the settlement of affairs in Cuba, Por-
to Rico and the Philippine Islands, by our
military-cvil authorities, great license can
be allowed on the ground of precedents
| When, IN 1921, Florida came into our pos
session from Spain. and Gen. Andrew
Jackson, L. S, A, was commissioner to
accept and governor to control the terri
tory for the time being, he was given
powers more enlarged and more extensive
than under the Constitution, had ever been
granted 10 any one before. Apart from all
restriction, he was given the unlimited
power exercised by the then governor gen
eral of Cuba. He was enabled to exercise
a powr, apart from all restant, that was
| legislative and judicial, as well as execu-
tive. Although Gen. Jackson did not fully
! appove the granting of such unlimited
powers, he nevertheless used them in the
interest of good order and the settlement
Of antagonisms.
| AS soon as the United States took con-
! troll Of Florida, acts Of oppression and un-
! justices long exercised over the subjects
of Spain within this province, began to be
| developed and many of them came before
| Gen. Jackson in his judicial capacity
Fearlessly he met every emergency, some
Of a critical character, and wacn he re-
| tired in favor of Gov Duval, who came
from Kentucky to succeed him, his course
! vas approved by the powers at Washing
ton. " lille Gen. Brooke at Porto kico and
Gen. Merritt, at the Philippine Islands and
probably Gen. Lee in Cuba, may not have
as unlimited authority as Gen. Jackson
possessed, in many things, as enc. Genc.es