Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-09
FAMOUS SIEGES
Many of Greater Duration Than That
of Port Arthur.

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
A siege always has its elements of ex-
citement and romance. 1t is a contest of
mental as well as of physical forces. The
siege of Port Arthur, which is so wildly
interesting the whole world. brings to mind
many of the famous sieges of history.
Since the 18th of last May the town has
been shut off from the world by an army
of marvellous size and equipment and the
beleaguered people within are suffering I'M
told hardships And yet this is an exceed
ingly short siege compared to some of
which we read. Before the Christian era
Greece camped nine years on the Trojan
plain before she burned the topless towers
of Ilium." Rome. with her primitive bat
tering-rams and wooden weapons pricked
ten years at the walls of Ven before ner
eagles were triumphant. And her splendid
legions were held at bay for two years be-
fore Scipio at last stood as conqueror
among the ruins of Carthage. During those
two frightfui years the women of the city,
in moral terror of the EVOLVES from the
Tiber" worked shoulder to shoulder with
the men in the trenches.
In more recent years the siege of Sebas-
topol in the Crimean war easily takes pre-
cedence for daring and picturesque achieve
ment. For eleven months the smoke or
battle hung like a halo over the Redan
and the Malakoff, those supposedly i'm
pregnable forts.
The year 1857 was made memorable by
the siege of Lucknow. Here in this city OF
glittering oriental beauty 300 English SOL
diers, with the indomitable spirit OF the
Anglo Saxon, beat back the hordes OF Sc
poys that swarmed about the residency.
while the women, knowing their fate III
surrender came, prayed every hour Tor
death or rescue Four months of this slow
torture went by and despair began to set
tie on the garrison: defeat seemed inevita-
BILE, when enc day a new sound mingled
with the noises the garrison already knew.
and a Scotch lassie. with her ear to the
ground recognized the new note and cried
out the rescue to the others: 1T is the
pibrochs o. the Highlanders! We are saved;
we are savedt" And to the music of those
pipes that gallant band of Scots and Eng
lsh cut their way to their starving coun-
trymen. leaving behind a path of blood
thick-strewn with Sepoy dead.
In the Franco-Prussian war Paris held
the enemy back for 132 days. yielding at
last not to assault. but to save her chill
dren from the horrors of starvation. Then
there is Plevna. Here the Turks. under
Osman Pasha- intrenched themselves
against the Russians. and In the 142 days
of Siege that followed 10000 men gave up
their lives. Then lie Pasha capltulated.
The siege and capture of Plevna make in
teresting reading for the student of mill
tary tactics.
In the history of our own country sleges
rare. There was the so-called siege Of
Boston; the twenty days at Yorktown.
which closed the revolution. and in the
CIVIL war the siege OF tlckSDurR, winch
city held out against Grant for some sew
enty days. During much of this time the
people of the town lived in their cellars or
burrowed into the bluffs and cliffs to es-
cape the bursting shells of the assailants.
Here in Memphis was heard the defamation
of that fierce bombardment During the
Spanish-American war there befell the
siege of Santiago too familiar for more
than a mention. During the Boer war, in
South Africa, people all over the world
asked for lis days: What Is the news
from Ladysmith?'' for during that length
of time Iadysmith was holding out against
the beleaguering foe.
These are some of the famous siegeS OF
history, ancient and modern. Each one of
them had its own record of brave deeds,
of gallant sallies. of bloody assaults; each
one ended with its sigh of despair, its far
have set them down coldly and succinctly:
poets and orators have told of them in
words that burn. But the story of each will
probably fade in interest and vivid pictur-
esqueness when the history of Port Arthur
is told to the world; for in those other days
there were wooden walls and spears. and
man-propelled battering rams; or. at best,
guns of but primitive power But before
Port Arthur there stands today the very
steel-personified spirit of war, the material
ized genius of invention. No improvements
of weapons explosive that the mind has
conceived or matter lent itself to perfect
have been overlooked or neglected by be-
Ieaguers or beleagued; and when the siege
ends and the crash comes Ii will be STU
pendous drowning In its mighty roar the
Homeric echoes of Troy. the clash and cry
at Plevna and the undying guns of the
MaIakoff.