The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-13
SPANS DOOM.
German Description of the State OF
the Unfortunate Country.

the Unfortunate Country.
Cadiz Letter in Hamburger Nachricten (the
ex-chancellor'S organ)
According to your instructions did not
report upon the military situation here In-
I'll had visited all the military centers and
fortresses. am now through with my tour
even in my widest dreams could never
nave conceived the state of things I found
mere. spain military preparedness" is III
a deplorable state. The army, as found It,
is entirely unprepared to take the field And
In pronouncing this Judgment l abstract
from its organic faults; l am considering
only its lack of warlike training. / have
inspected army corps and single companies,
and | found the one as unprepared for taxi
ing the field as the other.
The troops in the south of Spain are prob
ably the least prepared the heat prevail
ing IN those provinces makes men and off,
GERS lazy. They will not learn; on the whole
they are ridiculously novicelike in every
thlng connected with modern war. Even to-
gay gay IN the a, midst OF war the gaTrsons OF
for instance are loafing. They do nothing
to complete, their efficiency in the field.
nave been here month and have yet to
see regiment or battalion operating in
the open.
The people here believe it sufices to have
plenty OF arms, ammunition, uniformed
troops and sets upon sets of rules and regii-
latlons. 1t has never struck the minister
Of war, It seems, that these weapons and.
lauonS ought to be put TO a practical test.
The infantry is armed with the Mauser
carry the superior weapon have learned to
use 1t, but the armament with rapid-fire
guns is insufficient and incomplete. I un-
derStand that 80 per cent of the field ar
tillery still use the old-time canrons.
My inspection Of the fortresses yielded no
more encouraging information. Cadiz, Santa
Barbara (near Alicante) and Barcelona
with it's great Fort Monjuich) are defended,
for the most part, by antiquated guns
and counted between San Felipe and Ball
narte del Donate, the principal batteries,
Sa think OF it, All Of Of them sre @ GsSfs
leaders, all but four new Krupp's of "a en-.
caliber. But even these will be of little
the gGnners The spanars no w probabfy
postpone the building Of protectors until
after peace, or after the fall of the fortress
That 1 was allowed to inspect the north
front of CadiZ was due to the merest acct
dent l have not been able to visit San
Calataina and San Sebastian the forts on
the west front of the city, but as the north
is expected to bear the brunt of assault II
is quite evident that its ornaments are the
strongest and most up TO date.
1 give an American fleet attacking Cadiz
about three hours to silence all the guns
will blow up the torpedo beds, which are
supposed to make the harbor imDregnable,
and then they. can do what they please.
lombard the city? Hardly. 1t is too beau
tiful and too harmless!
But do not think that the commander of
the town is given to idleness. He has set
city walls. That walls nowadays cannot
protect city the general does not know,
going up. The military exercises in this
fortress consist of occasional gun practice.
There are not even sand sacks on and about
the city walls. and sand is cheap enough
here God knows. va
The foreign residents of Cadiz are OBJ
serving this state Of things with many mis-
Swings; they do not blame the Madrid
government however, as much az the local
administration. Stories or bribery and en-
Ter brought ten millions from Cuba and has
sailed them away in the Bank of England"
they say; Spain is full of Weylers: big and
of military unpreparedness TO a Spaniard
without hearing remarks of that sort. In
looked S upo9 as she mater Of Fl coHrse What
is the use OF being a general II one cannot
steal?
lots of talk of the reserve feet stationed
here 1t is said to-day that the Armada"
will be sent to the Philippines; tomorrow,
will be no match for Dewey's is generally
agreed upon; that If 1t goes to Cuba or
PORTO Rico It VIII seek harbor there is
should cross the ocean in order to crawl into
shelter is puzzling to nonmilitary men, and
everybody fears that ii will be smashed
like that of Manila If it does.
To-day II was explained TO me that the
reserve feet was held in readiness to attack
American vessels carrying troops to Cuba
after the invasion has actually begun. This
plan is based upon Weylers opinion, viz.
that the American feet is not numerous
enough to maintain strict blockade of the
island. AS to maintaining a blockade OF
Cuba and Porto Rico, THAT would be ut
terly impossible for the Americans to do
says Weyler.
The consensus OF opinion seems to be that
Cuba may held out for year longer.
las to Havana, / learn in military circles
that its batteries are deplorably weak, too
weak to maintain steady, continuous fire.
Many of the Havana guns are said to be
modern, but who knows? There is that
spectre of Weyler's millions again! The Ha-
vana forts have neither turrets nor batter
les protected by armament. All Spain Is
deploring this fact and seeks to keep 1t
from the enemy. There Is a movement on
foot to force the government to abandon the
idea of sending the reserve fleet into q
transatlantic harbor. Let the ships oper-
ate on the sea-" say the people; 'if they
are caught in harbor they viii be surely
smashed"
While military Spain is neglecting its fore
most duty. n few Spaniards show their pa
triotism The Marquis d Arguelles gave ten
millions. the celebrated Teroro La Guerrita
contributed one million. to the war funds
Let US hope that this money will be applied