The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-07


preserve the peace between England and
the United States than any other event
/ that took place during the war Ad-
{ miral Luce also recalls the fact that Ad-
miral G. lomb, an officer of the British Navy,
! who had given much I me and study TO
! the subject Of navs warfare. has declared
that IN the American Civil War the de-
cid ng battle was that lotveen the Monitor
and the Mtrr.Tr nc, and no one can doubt
that If the Ne mac had gained the VIC
tory there would scarcely now be the
United States OF America. The fate of that
nation WIS decided then and there"
One Of the most striking papers in this
volume Is Commodore Foxhall A. Parkcr's
description Of the Battle of Mobile Bay"
, II will be remembered that. opposed 70
Farragut were strong land Notifications,
and that the Confederate vessels included
the ironclad ram Tennessee, which, at one
( time, engaged the whole Of the Union feet
and that the Confederate defences included
also submarine torpedoes, 10y one Of which
the Tecunseh was blown up. Blu, for Far
rasu, great qualities a. commander
the battle would twice have been lost and
the greater part of the Union feet de-
stroyed. Commodore Parker does full JUS
! tice to the bravery and tenacity with which
tho Confederates fought. "kernenb boring,
, he says, that, Of the actors in this strife
! all We're Amer leans, we glory not in our
I BROTH : defeat, reJoic. not ia our victory,
save as these have tended TO the rest ORATOR
| OF the Union God grant that, when the
next war comes, in every fight, whether
by land or sea, We may stand shoulder to
shoulder, and side by side with the Star
1 Spangled Banner. the en- blem of equal
! rights for all, waving above our heads, and
not single sectional flag to b. seen upon
| the bat leliy!d"
In his recoll, ctions of the Battle of Manila
! Ray Capt. Asa Walker directs attention to
/ the untoward conditions under which the
I engagement took place. We are reminded
! that the fleets OF former days which kept
the sea Tor months, subsisting their officers
ana crews on the supplies stored in their
capaciCus holds, required no space in their
| interior for thu accommodation Of their
| motive power or the modern man-of-war,
= Oh the other hand, coal may be considered
as the liic-blood, upon due supply Of thi,
combustible depends the existence Of the
| vessel as an Effective instrument. In pro-
I portion 10 the space required for coal and
machinery, the room avaia bic for provi-
! sions has been diminished A stock of food
| for from forty-tive TO ninety days is the
! utmost that can now b" counted upon
! 1t Is these facts that Capt Walker has in
mind when he says Fancy this little squad
ron Of six ships. the largest under 5000
| tons, and the smallest Of only 500, setting
! forth to do battle in an eneny's waters,
! 1900 miles from a home port, with no
| base of supply vessels. except the two
! small steamers accompanying it, with oil
| neighboring ports closed by the stern
laws Of neutrality, and with no hope
OF aid from any source. Can II be Won
dered at that our friends at Hong Kong
| prognosticated the most direful results
and designated our enterprise as Yankee
! temerityF' Moreover, the small feet under
! Commodore Dewey put forth in ignorance
/ OF the obstacles which it might have to
encounter. Capt Walker recalls that,
during the stay at Hong Kong, every en-
deavor had, of course. been made TO ascer-
tain the strength and position of the Span
ish feet stationed in Philippine waters,
and TO find out the location of all forts
and mines. These efforts to acquire trust
worthy information had been, however,
but partially successful. THAT our
squadron was superior in weight of metal
to theirs we had no doubt, but we could
get no reliable knowledge of the batteries
in and about Manila and Subig bays.
If met in the open we felt assured that
the Spanish squadron would he DESTROYED,
but how about the batteries? Our Consul
at Manila, Mr.. Williams had from the first
| jealousy striven to accumulate all in
| formation accessible TO him, but being a
suspect, all of his movements were watched
and his opportunities minimized, so that, as
| far as land dGfences and mines were con-
cerned, he was able To give but the vaguest
rumors.' How the fight ended is well
known. Every one of the vessels COM
! posing the Spanish fleet was DESTROYED
the forts were captured. and Manila must
have been surrendered, but for Dewey
lack Of sufficient troops to police the city
| The victorious fleet was compelled to
await the arrival of an adequate number
, OF soldiers before taking possession of
| Manila but meanwhile a strict blockade
Of the harbor was proclaimed and enforced
We suppose that never was a victory so
at so small cost. IL may be- remembered
that not single man on board the Ameri-
can feet was killed, and but eight were
slightly wounded, Three ships Of the
squadron were untouched, and the injuries
| to the other three were of the most trivial
character. Practically the squadron was
| in good as condition for action after the en-
gagement was over as it had been when
the fight began.