The times., 1898-08-07
A REMARKABLE WAR.
The Several Surprising Features of
Our Brush With Spain

T rnsh HiIh SpHh.
There is no doubt that Admiral Dewey
was surprised at the havoc he wrought
without the loss OF a single life his
side; and naval officers the world over
We're astounded when Cer3era's fleet was
destroyed with the loss of a single Amer
lean. These and other extraordinary
features of the shree- months war lead
the New York Tribune to say:
IF the war ends 1t viii rank as one
of the most remarkable wars In human
history. A war without loss Of a single
battle or skirmish on one side. without
loss or serious injury of single ship,
with surrendered prisoners exceeding in
number the force which captured them,
and with practical annihilation of the
available navy of one power, is novel
enough TO make an interesting chapter in
the worlds history. The results are the
more remarkable when 1t is considered
that practically the finest arms and am
munition of Europe, in some respects
superior to those which Americans en-
ployed for most of their forces, were at
the service of Spain. Krupp and Arm
strong guns, Mauser rifles, smokeless
powder gave Spaniards a serious ad-
vantage repeatedly, and Spanish soldiers
have never been considered inferior fight
ers in any locality where their style of
fighting was possible. Yet good troops,
with first-rate equipments, with ships of
the latest and best European pattern.
and men who were not lacking in couf-
age. were never able TO make anything
like good stand on land or sea. Hold
ing positions declared impregnable by
the military experts of their own ana
other nations these well-equipped forces
were driven out of them by the rush
of troops in part destitute of discipline
in war, and many OF them pro'iueu
with inferior arms.
'eAll these things go to make THIS war
one of the most remarkable ever known.
II would not have been considered
strange three months ago If Americans
had lost several ships and many thou
sand men in battle before driving Spain
to sue for peace. In fact, all sorts OF
European critics were continually saying
before the war actually began that, while
American resources must win in the end
this country might have bad half-hour
Of it at the outset. It is only in the light
of these declared expectations that the
actual results of the war can be fairly
Judged Nobody finds even now that Ger
vera 5 forces were lacking in courage or
in material equipment Nobody ques-
tions the courage of Toral and his men,
or makes light of their defense of posi-
tions which they considered impregnaole.
and which everybody e'se has considered
extremely difficult But. somehow, the
Americans have nowhere met even little
reverse on land or sea. and have invaria-
bly, carried apparently impossible posi-
tions with greater loss to the defenders
than 10 those attacking.
In warfare these are not results which
history makes familiar. All the loss of
one navy from first to last and on all seas
do not equal those inflicted upon the
other by a single shell. All the battles of
the war thus far have not cost the Amer
lean army as many men as 1t has killed
in attacking the most strongly fortified
and difficult positions. There will have
to be found a definite and extremely inn
portant cause for such a disparity of
fighting force and destructive power The
world now begins to see what the cause
is. Free sovereigns fighting for the gov
ernment which is their own are not to be
matched by the best trained and best
equipped forces of governments which are
not of the people, by the people and for
the people,