The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-19

| anu aulpIlseu the Woflu. what sur | prisesl
 | Neither the President nor his cabi- net, nor the war board, nor commodore on flagship, nor general on hilltop 1 looking eagerly across the bay on | drowning battlements, knew what was in the morrow. But the work went on, l armies gathering in camps from Maine | to Florida,a and on the PeCific coast, ships | bought and others impressed into ser vice, hospitals on sea and land 1 equipped, prisoners captured, Christian | and sanitary commissions organized, nurses volunteering, and our whole land united in the one purpose of bring ing to an end the cruelties and barbara | ties which for centuries have been cry ing to heaven for redress,
 | Let this suffice for illustration of our | text as to national affairs behind us l Let it also awaken in our hearts grati- | tude to God for what He has already wrought for us and for humanity in these recent weeks.
 1 Providentially we were saved an aw- full calamity when sober judgment finally prevailed in reference to recog- nizing the so-called Cuban republic. There is not there and never has been there real Republic. worthy of recog- nition capable of managing civil affairs or maintaining a civil government The fifty thousand or more insurgent forces of which we read and hear so much, and on which our army was to | count so much for aid, have not mate rialized. It is, indeed, a question whether the ragged, undisciplined and unprovisioned forces of the rebel leader have not hindered more than helped | our cause.
 Men look more and braver in pictures than on parade, certainly more and braver heralded by the Cuban Junta | than when struggling through the country and shirking in the face of bat | tle
 l We are learning not to count on Gu I ban troops until they fearlessly face the cannon's mouth, certainly not until they are found to work on roads and bridges over which soldiers can drag their siege guns and pass to drive the enemy from their strong-holds; learn ing also that Spanish trickery is the most treacherous ever practiced.
 All these calls for delay at Santiago, that Blanco may be heard from, or in structions may be had from Spain, have been part and parcel of effort, either to fortify for a more stubborn resistance or to give time for our brave troops in | trenches there to be decimated by the fever scourge.
 These things, however, have given proof to friends and enemies abroad that this war was not being wages for l ,{o1 1ar 1s1t nor for any motive other than relief for the oppressed. This has commanded a kind of reverence, as they have had il- lustration of our high humanity.
 The magnanimity shown by our navy and army officers has been sublime. The same of our care for the captured. Our hearts have been hushed in rever- ent thought of great captain return ing thanks to God on board of a battle- ship, in the presence of soldiers with uncovered heads, ere the smoke of a mighty conflict had cleared away.
 This may not be a religious war" it is not; but sublime cut-croppings of a religious faith command our homage, and exalt our cause to the very heav- ems.
 The end however, is not yet. Santiago has surrendered and Shaf- ter's weary soldiers are pressing into the stricken city. Twelve thousand captives there, and twelve thousand more from the surrounding region, are laying down their arms, waiting trans portation to their home in Spain. But Porto Rico is soon to become the point of another attack, where San Juan is strongly fortified, and only by a pro- tracted siege can be taken save by an- other awful sacrifice of life.
 Then there remain Havana, the Ca nary and other islands, where thou sands and tens of thousands are in the same struggle against a common foe.
 How the scene opens and enlarges There is business before this republic business undreamed of when the call came for volunteers three months ago; and who shall venture to predict what is before us in the near future-what of storming forts; what of siege; what of wasted oities what of suffering under pelting rains and burning southern suns; what of thinning ranks and crowding hospitals, and sorrowine hearts.
 The end is sure, because, as we be- l lieve we are on Gods side, enlisted in a righteous cause, and have not mis- read our duty in this critical period of the worlds history.
 When the "Anglo-Saxon civilization parted company in the sixteenth centu- ry," one working towards the kingdom of God, and the other toward the king dom Of the power of darkness, then the modern campaign of truth anC righteousness began, with which the Almighty became ally, and history tells us which kingdom shall prevail. 1 But when the war shall end anG peace become assured, the work will be only begun. Cities are to be cleanset and made fit for human habitation governments established and human rights maintained; peoples ignorant, de- graded, superstitious, vicious, tanned enlightened, made self-governing; laws enacted, international affairs arranged and all the forces of a Christian civili. zation set in motion! No easy task yol may be sure. But on this task America is set.
 Such complications were not expected : when our President sent his ul
 timatum to Spain. No though
 of islands with their millions tC be protected and taught the high obli- cations of liberty was entertained