The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18
Mckinley, AIger, shaTter and Miles.

MILES covering the Santiago expedition
of 1905. This statement contains so
many novel and astonishing assertions
that we have been moved. in the interest
Of history, to examine other authorities
who have dealt with the same aspects
OF the episode.
General MILES, for example, is quoted
as saying:
Naturally I desired to 20 to Cuba myself at
the beginning. but they would not let me"
Asked what he meant by they, tho
General is said to have added:
The onnelsls here said that was Of better and
more important service here In Washington and In
tho principal camps of mobilization until the army
Was wen organized for invasion. After that I was
to 20 to Cuba. and I did GO. l arrived there to
demand and receive the surrender OF the Spanish
forces"
Here, attributed to General MILES, We
have a number of highly important
declarations, all bearing on tho most
vital and essential and intimate aspects
Of the war. In the first place, General
MILES is made to assert his great desire
TO command the expedition to Santiago.
This desire, we are told, was frustrated
by the President and Secretary ALGER,
the pretext being that he MILEs) was
indispensable TO them in the emergency
then intended for the invasion of Porto
Rico and other Spanish strongholds in
the western hemisphere. IL seems, how
ever, that General MILES accomplished
the Herculean task with astonishing
promptness, for, according to the pub
lished interview, he went to Cuba in the
very nick of time. Il arrived there TO
demand and receive the surrender of the
Spanish forces, he is made to say.
Now, there are just two explanations
of this remarkable utterance attributed
to General MILES, n of which is that
he has been grossly misrepresented, and
the other OF which is that the Generals
memory is almost grotesquely at fault.
The Hon. RUSSELL A. ALGER's history
OF the Spanish war incident, based en-
tirely upon the official records Of the
War Department, asserts hat the oppor-
tunity to command the Shafter expe-
dition was formally offered TO General
MILES both by Mr.. ALGER himself and
by President MCKINLEY. This assertion
is deliberately made on page so of the
work in question, and elsewhere is re-
enforced by statements to the effect that
General MILES preferred the Porto Rico
enterprise and thought it of much greater
importance. Indeed, the pages Of Cen
eral ALGER's history are crowded with
General MrLBs's letters and reports, all
confirming the formers estimate of the
latter's attitude at that time. Up to the
very moment Of SKATERS departure
from Port Tampa, June 7, 1898, General
MILES vas urging the War Department
to make Porto Rico the chief objective
Of the expedition and insisting that
Santiago was a point of infinitely inferior
importance. But the records show that
the command was offered TO General
MILES in the first place, and it follows
that the President and the Secretary of
Wal could not have considered him as
indispensable to the work of organiza-
ton or of anything else in this country
at the time.
General MILES is made to say, further,
that he did go to Cuba later, and that he
arrived there exactly when he was most
urgently needed-irst, to demand, and
secondly, TO receive, the surrender of the
Spanish army. Here the alleged declar-
atoms of the General are still more ire
concilable with the ascertained facts Of
history. The battle of San Juan Hill was
fought on July /. CERvERA's fleet was
destroyed on July 3. On the same day
General SKATER made his first demand
for the surrender of Santiago. This
demand, however, he consented to hold
in suspense at the urgent request Of the
foreign Consuls and representatives sta
toned in the beleaguered city. The de-
mand was renewed on July 9, but there
wdb another postponement in the inter-
est Of the women and children, non
combatants, DC, with whom Santiago
was at that time crowded. On July =
General ToRAL, acting as commander of
the Spanish forces during General LIN
AREs's disability on o of wounds
received In action, made "A counter
proposition. This alternative contem-
plated an evacuation of Santiago. but
not a surrender Of men or arms, and was
promptly and emphaticalIy rejected by
President Mich and Secretary Al
y Then ensued other negotiations,
the dilatOry object whereof vas sntIi-
ciently apparent 20 General SKATER.
though they were tolerated because of
the perfectly obvious intention to yield
which lay behind IL all. A. q matter Of
fact General SKATER was notified on
July IS that ToRAL, having received full
author'-y from Madrid. was ready 10
surrender on our term. ON July II
NJ noon the ceremony occurred. The
Spsniards laid down their arms and we're
taken under the protection Of four army.
" is true that General MILES WIS pres
Pnt on the occasion. He had stopped
on his way 10 Porto Rico, and ne partici-
pated in the function merely ~ "a dis
tinguished guest. He had sailed from
Charleston On July \. and after u very
pleasant and salubrious voynge touched
Oh, I'nhau ,u.n.t "a 0tn,, 10 nnpEI. liz, a..