The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-06-03
Spain
-And The
Powers

Current comments ON the conduct Of
the war, or rather ON the absence Of any
well conceived and unvacillating plan
of campaign, are not calculated to fat
ter the board Of strategy at Washing
ton. A good deal more is heard in club
circles in London than is to be read in
newspapers, the latter being unani-
NOUS in their anxiety to avoid any
thing likely to hurt American suscepti-
bilities. No one, Of course, expected
display Of great military efficiency such
as can only be the outcome.of long
and systematic training through the
maintenance Of great standing army
such as the United States never pre-
tended to have organized. but without
which it is impossible to embark nova
days on q war with any promise Of inn
mediate success The failure, however,
of the many and fast American cruisers
to obtain timely information as to the
movements Of the Spanish feet is more
unexpected, and 1t establishes even
more conclusively the absolute neces-
sity Of special training in modern naval
warfare. ! may here mention that dur
ing the naval maneuvers carried out
yearly in British waters the admiralty
directed particular attention to this very
question Of scout duty, and specialists
declare that the Spanish fleet would
never have eluded the vigilance of ex-
perienced British commanders.
1t is also noted in this connection
that the Spaniards have enjoyed an inn
portant advantage by the very fact of
their backwardness in Journalistic en-
terprise." t" The so to say abject readi-
ness with which the authorities at
Washington placed at the disposal Of
newspaper representatives the most i'm
portant campaign projects and the alb
solute disregard of public interests with
which such information was heralded
to the world at large by section of the
American press, come as an astonish-
ment to those who know that one of the
essential conditions of success in mod
ern warfare is secrecy. This sort Of
coram popho strategy is contrasted un-
favorably with the quietness and unob-
trusiveness with which Spain has been
able to concert the movements Of her
feet.
The immediate effect of all this must
be to protract the duration Of the war.
Even If Admiral Cervera's feet be now
defeated, his successful tactics and the
stout front presented by the troops in
Cuba are calculated to encourage peo-
pie like the Spaniards to o determined
resistance. But as o prolongation of the
struggle will certainly entail more oner-
GUS conditions Of peace and may posi-
bly, compel the United States to carry
the war into Europe by attacking some
ports in Spain it is apprehended that
serious complications will then ensue.
If events take such q turn, the United
States, 1t is feared, will be forced, how
ever reluctantly, to abandon its tradi-
tional abstention from European pol
itics and embark in a course of vast
military and naval ornaments.
Nothing could show more wildly the
involved state of international relations
she world over than the misgivings
with which the European powers view
the developments Of a war possessing
prima facie only local significance
and waged between republic uncon-
cerned In continental affairs and Eu-
ropean monarchy which has remained
thus far outside the alliances binding
the other great powers. The fate Of Gu
ba and Puerto Rico would In itself be
of like moment to Europe. But the
effect of their severance from Spain on
the stability Of monarchical institutions
in that country concerns almost every
reigning house In Europe, especially
after the terrible explosion witnessed
in Italy at this very juncture. Further
more, the ultimate ownership of the
Philippines is a matter which must ag-
gravate the difficulties of peaceful SET
tlement
These, however, are not the only per-
picking elements Of the situation. Spain
is in possession Of certain points of great
strategic importance as affecting naval
mastery in the Mediterranean, and 1t is
feared that she may be disposed to
make, in connection with them, conces-
sions to such continental powers as may
either favor her In the prosecution Of
the war or assist her IN concluding le-
nient peace. Port Mahon, in the Bale
aric islands, is q most important naval
port, and Russia has long coveted a
"coaling station" in that quarter.
Ceuta, thanks to modern artillery, neu-
tralizes Gibraltar as key Of the Medi-
terranean, while, for the same reason,
Sierra Carbonera and Punta Carnero
could render the tenure Of Gibraltar
precarious in time of war. Moreover,
the predominant political and CONNER
cial influence which Spain exerts in
Marocco has, up to this, held the bal
ance between the rival efforts Of France
and England to secure firm footing in
that country, Marocco being not the
last Of dying nations" on Lord Sails
bury's list. France has always looked
upon the annexation Of Marocco as q
necessary complement Of her Tunisian
and Algerian dominions, and since the
extension Of her possessions in western
Africa her succession to the heritage of
the tottering shercefian throne is held in
Jrapca IN ba m rnaffar of manifest doe