El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-09
THE CASE OF
GENERAL MILES

His Singular Course During
the Late War With Spain.
HIS CHARACTERISTICS.
The Most Unpopular Officer In the
Army-His Ambition To Be Made
Lieutenant General Was He
Really a Martyr9-HOw He Lost
Public Sympathy.
In the ST. Louis Globe Democrat
Leslie j. Perry writes from Wsshlng..
ton as follows: Recent events mere OF
absorbing interest ave served 10 focus
public attention upon the commanding
general of the army and his peculiar
characteristics. Among the opponents
of the administration the general has
had ~vociferous partissns for purposes
of their own, who have perslstently
endeavored to make it appear that he
was the victim OF the Jealousy
and malice of persons in high places:
that he was under an official
ban from the outset of the Spanish
war, and by some sort of hocus pocus
deprived of his leading part in his
glory. 1t was thrown out that the ad-
mi%nistration, aware of the p~roneness
of the people to hero-worship, was
afraid that, if placed in command of an
active army, Gen. Miles would by his
military ability become the successful.
republican candidate for the preslcen-
cy in 1900. 1t was further said that,
by dexterous manipulation OF official
circumstances and avenues of informa-
ton, Gen. Miles had been placed in q
false 1i~ht haforn Tho nn1nfru
There was every appearance tina
Gen. Miles encouraged these vie ws.
His raspy state of mind, manifested at
all stages of III war, even after he had
been assigned. tosthe Porto Rico inva-
sion, certainly indicated that the general
either felt himself to be an official by ill.,
used and publicly misunderstood Of
ficer, or, for Interior purposes OF his
own, wished it to be 8 o inferred. His
ill-concealed chatting was plainly dis
cernible. To some experienced and
unbiased observers it looked as if Gen.
Miles was DESTROYS of posing as a
martyr; that he had a design to build
up a personal party in the country in
opposition to the administration, to be
available in case ,the war should by
any unforeseen accident prove to be
unfortunate in its first stages.
WAS GEN MILES A MARTYR?
At first this line of action possibly
had some effect. At any rate there
was more or less gossip, and it is prob
able a considerable numbe of ZONES
people got the impression that Gen.
Miles was somehow a victim of under
hand animosity. But the rapid success
sion of and their glorious cul.
mination at Santiago at once entirely
diverted public attention from mere in
dividual concerns. So inconsequentisl
49, - 80
sumptive grievances was totally for
gotten. subsequently, 1t was supposed
by those who gave the subject a
thought, that whatever had been the
matter was wholly cured, and Gen.
Miles and his friends perfectly salts
fed when he was assigned to the Porto
Rico command.
While it is always difficult to learn
with certainty what goes on here be-
hind the scenes in the perennial strug-
gle for place aud power, and fully as
difficult sometimes to correctly inter-
prete b meaning of what finally per-
colates out to the public, there seems
to be no doubt that at the outset, by
some mysterious influence, Gen.. Miles
was held back. Whether his was de-
liberate and preconcerted, or only the
result of some dissatisfaction caused by
his own meddlesome muddling after
hostilities began, will aver remain an
official secret most likely. He was
probably made the victim of antagon-
istic army Influences which AVE long
been entrenched in the war depart
ment.
THE PRESIDENT O UNFRIENDLY.
It is doubtful if the president was
ever unfriendly to Gen. Miles personal
ly at any stage. Although a soldier,
b commanding general is a republi-
can in politics, a fact he has no sort of
hesitancy to put in evidence at any
time or anywhere. At very great
public expense he was sent by the
administration to officially observe the
GrecO-Turkish war, an extended
Junketing billet of which be made the
most during several months of pleas
ant summer weather. So that in the
beginning il seems unlikely that the |
administration was antagonistic to
Gen. Miles.
But although he was eventually sent
to the field, and supposed to be quieted, |
it was not so. Gen. Miles is an agrees
sive man, watchful and keen at army
intrigue-Of the extent of which, by the
way, the world at large has no concep-
tion-and the equal of any other man
as q resourceful politician. From Por-
to Rico he continued to do many things
to embarrass and obstruct the admins
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