New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-08

,onder fel; early in the day by the naval
rar,s al the extraordinary results achieved al
roos, without injury The reports that came
before the cutting Of the cable were of a char
a,,er 70 indicate that Dewey was going 70 make
quick and thorough work Of the seizure OF Ma
,no but il was feared that in so fierce an en- ,
eacenaent against a Spanish feet. combined +
with the shore detences, the American feet must
surely have sustained good deal Of damage.
Ass Of life and other injuries. That was re-
earded as inevitable IN a combat between two |
AAets for even the Chinese in the great battle /
~ the Yalu managed to infict considerable /
damage on their Japanese antagonists. Yet IN I
iris battle of Manila, lasting two hours at least
according to the accounts first received. and re-
curing in the destruction of the entire Spanish
zee, and the silencing Of their forts, not ar
American life was lost ard not an American
ship vas injured. A few men, 1t is true. were
slightly wounded. but that is frequently the
ease when vessels indulge in target practice
There are ali sorts Of theories among the OIL
c,a,s 10 account for this. but in the absence Of
facts 1t is hard to form reasonable hypothesis
"superior gunnery" target practice cool
ness" preparedness" these are the factors that
Won the day in such an astounding fashion, in
the opinion Of one Of the brightest OF the young
naval officers. An oder head and man or
h;gher grade strategist. thought that Dewey
had taken the Spaniards unawares IN every re-
sheet. He had run the batteries at night undls-
covered and az daybreak was pouring oroaoside
after broadside into the Spanish feet when was
taken unawares. with nobody az quarters WIZ"
Nos. of the crew asleep. and generally utterly
unprepared to resist an attack One olhcei
thought that the Spaniards had even la''so 10
keep banked fires, so that they had TO steam
=, and could not move lying helpless, While
,,,d firing
from one side and then the other Probably the
true explanation will not be forthcoming un'h
mail advices are at hand; but Spanish naVai
,-as.iee has received a blow from the battle OF
Nori,a from, which il cannot recover IN many
years.
Commodore Dewey cut the cable himself ana
though he offers no explanation for so dong "
is believed that his purpose was not ohis -
prevent the Spanish Governor-GeheTdI Ho'"
communicating with his own Government ou'
also TO prevent the foreign consuIs al Mann"
from interfering with his plans by caohhs pro-
tests to their Governments. He MADE II lllPoS-
sible for them TO summon any war vesse!s 10 en-
force the protest they were expected 70 '''"A7
against the siege Of Manila
ELEVEN SPANISH SHIPS DESTROYED
closer examination OF the two dispatches
shows that in the news originally given out ehe
@ro,, the list Of those destroyed. They were the
Don Juan de Austria and the Isla de Luzon Inc
Austria was q | Bottom vessel of fourteen knots
carving 47-inch guns and also machine guns
Tba 1uzon was 1.0O0-ton gunboat. similarly
armed That makes eleven Spanish ships de-
s.roved by Dewey in the short space Of two
hours.
AS he LETT the Navy Department this after
noon Secretary Long said. in answer to ques-
ton that he had nothing further TO coMmuni-
cate to the public. he had already given all the
news that the McCulloch brought except
friAing detail not Of general interest ana Oh
importance only to the Department The re-
ee;3t + advices at the STATE Department how
90. from, commercial sources indicates that
further news may be coming by commercial
steamers.
y Congress does not act prematurely' as II
6i9 ~ the case Of Worden when he achieved
his famous victory over the Merrimac' Actlhs
.d0,!ral Dewey will become an actual AdmTal
IN a few days The Law Of July is 49, pro-
,jdes that naval officers who, on the recon-
rnendat!on Of the President receive the thanks
Of Congress may be advanced one grace Inc
President will do this in Dewey's case "hich
will put 81 900 additional in his pocket and
-unnp him over three commodores as We" d
owe. Acting Admiral Sampson
At the Embassies ana Legations Commodore
Dewey's reports were read with great lh'efe''
.ra served 70 renew the high tributes OF the
foreign officials 70 the gallant American COM
roander The remarkable disparity between the
oa.,,al,iee mr. m, American and Spanish ships
vas source OF special comment, and tie
military attache of one Of the Embassies salo
that such a disparity proba bly, was without a
raral,al IN history How the Spaniards couio
have lost $50 killed and go wounded "hne
the American loss vas confined TO re" men
slightly injured is regarded by the lorele" oo'
servers as clearly disclosing the utter worth.
lessness Of Spanish arms. The Ambassador o.
one OF the great Powers said II showed una'
The guns Of the Spanish forts as vel! as 'hose
On their ships were worthless. otherwise 'heS
would have inflicted at least some MOI '"''''
upon the American sailors
1T recalls SolferinO he said Az mat ""'
France and Austria we're at war. but the rang
If the French guns was longer than that OF 'he
Austrian. That brought them together on equa'
terms. and the simple difference In the ehe'"
~ range Of the French guns determiheo '"'
outcome Of that battle. SO 1t was with Dewey
he not only had the guns, but they hau '"e
modern strength and destructiveness. "hiie 'he
Spanish guns evidently were antquated ana
guns only in name It serves TO sho" thal III
the warfare II tO-Gay a nation HuS' "
weapons Of the most modern pattern else !. -
81 terrible disadvantage. and It's men are iei'
practically at the mercy Of an enemy having
all the latest appliances Of destructive warfare.
II Is the lesson OF So.ferino over again, ana
this time Spain learns Il
II was though, that the British Embassy
would receive direct advices but none came
The French German and other foreign estaD-
Iishmen,s also lacked direct advices. In all the
foreign quarters mucA concern was SHOWN az
- the effect q these reports on the temper OF