The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-03
GENERAL OATES WRITES OF 4
HIS RECENT TRAVELS IN EUROPE

great river pouring over the ledge of rock
one hundred and fifty feet looked like a
| huge, irregular column of stalactites glis-
| tening in the sun with numerous rain
bows rising from the river and spanning
| the heavens made a scene of unsurpass-
ed grandeur. Ny friend who was usual
| ly wicked and profane, was deeply moved,
| he was awestricken said he: who could
behold this grandest of all scenes and
| doubt for a moment the existence of a
| mighty God as the Creator of all
| things?' The Englishman unmoved by
| either the scene or the sentiment, gave
| expression to his true nature and re-
piled: Yes, 1t Is a considerable wash
| ing, you know My friend turning to
| me ana eienching his teeth with indigna-
| ton, remarked: "D-n such man. let us
| CO."
The British government Is revered by
| the English people, and 1t is the most
stable and has the best credit Of any gov
| eminent in the world except the United
| States OF America The English people
| individually are sober, Industrious and
/ prosperous. They are great sticklers fol
and worshippers of titles. However small
/ the title, the person wants it and. the
i people call him by the title he has, or
| by the title which the last office he held
| entitled him. A man who has been
| general is never by the most ignorant
called captain or colonel, as Is the case
| with our people. Such thing over there
| would be considered impolite, If not in
suiting. They are well up on the pro-
/ prieties OF such things. The British gov
I eminent Is the most stable and paternal
| of any in the worldly The greatest rea-
| son for the success OF 1t Is attributable
| to the contentment and conservatism of
| the people.
The loyalty of the nobility to the crown
| Is stimulated by selfishness and was fifty
| expressed by Lord Dover when he de-
clared that he would fight for the crown
| II he found it on a bean pole"
| London Is the greatest city in the world.
1t has more than 6.5OO.0OO Of population
and is about fifteen miles through; sit
| uated on the great river Thames in the
southern part of the island, where all
the railroads of England and Scotland
terminate, 1t commands large part of
| the trade of the world The government
| has always depended on its commerce
! and its carrying trade, which is on every
sea and every ocean, Among the great
| things to be seen in the city are the
houses of Parliament, Buckingham Pal
ace, the Tower of London, the Bridges,
the great church ediices, the great parks,
Rotten Row." the great riding parks,
| Kcnsington Gardens, the News or horses
and carriages of the King, the great gal
| leries of art and painting and Westmin-
ster Abbey. The most striking of the tall
and massive outdoor statues are those
/ to Admiral Nelson and the Duke of York.
The truth Is that the bigness of London
| puts 1t beyond the power of human pen
| to describe 1t in less space than an en-
tire volume. After spending six days in
| sightseeing, shopping, ETC., and being
/ thoroughly tired and somewhat disguised
| with the elaborate and even silly prepar-
| atoms for the coronation of King Ed
ward, and being in doubt whether his
health would admit Of the browning on
the day set, to wit, June 26th, and feel
Ing my Americanism was somewhat be-
low par I began to long for home. My
wife and son at first were very anxious
| to remain but 1 finally talked them into
agreeing to leave. Everything was given
| up by the London people to the one
| grand idea OF the coronation. They built
| seats in front of stores, monuments and
| everywhere along the intended line of
march. They built seats even on the top
| of Buckingham Palace. All the city along
the proposed line of march and for one
hundred yards on each side of 1t resem-
bled a vast lumber yard more than any
thing else. And the price of seats was
| from SO to $50 each, and a regulation
| was that every holder of ticket to a
| seat had to be In that seat by o'clock
/ in the morning and remain there until
| the parade was over, which might be late
| in the evening, or forfeit 1t If you left
| 1t. / became SO tired and disguised that
went to a steamship Office and bought
tickets to New York-on the steamship
St. louisiana we began to arrange, to
l..
came we shipped our trunks, went to the
station and boarded the train for South
| ampton, which Is sixty or seventy miles
| southwest from London. When we got
| out of the city proper, we were in the
| suburbs still a great part of the way.
| The market gardens farms, stock, etc,
were very much as / described them be-
| tween Harwich and London. Southamp.
| ton is a great shipping point, but not
much city.
We were soon on board the st. Louis
with all Of our baggage, and were shown
to our staterooms. A few minutes after
Z o'clock the big steamer pushed out and
got under way. We passed the British
squadron of war vessels fourteen in num-
Der, assembled for thu great naval dis
play in celebration of the coronation of
King Edward VII, which was to have
come off on the 9th, the next day after
the coronation. The steamer steered
across the English channel to Cherbourg,
France. where 1t arrived at about 5
| o'clock p. m. Just outside of this harbor
is where the battle between the Kear-
| sarge and the Alabama occurred, near
the close of the civil war Admiral
| Semmes had run the Alabama into the
harbor to obtain coal. He was such a
terror to Yankee commerce that several
1 war vessels had been chasing and seek
| ing the Alabama for many months and
| Semmes's skill eluded the pursuers.
While in the harbor of Cherbourg Com
| mander .Winslow. with the Kearsarge en-
| tered the harbor and knowing that by
| international law that he had no right to
| attack the Alabama in a neutral harbor
| sailed around her and then took. position
just outside the harbor. Admiral Semmes
| was too game to let the challenge tc
battle by sailing around him go unheed-
4 ed. He might have subordinated his
pride to policy had there been any way
for him to escape, but there was none
hence he decided to go boldly out and
| fight He did so. He told the writer that
his second shot struck the Kearsargt
amidships, knocked the outside plankinp
off and revealed to him that she wore a
coat OF mail which had been concealed
from him by the planking. He said that
when he made that discovery he knew
that the Alabama was at such disad-
vantage that 1t was almost certain she
| would go down. Another shot from the
Alabama, a 120-pound shell, penetrated
the stern post Of the Kearsarge, but fail