Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Downfall of Spain: Naval History of the Spanish American War
And, whilst the spectacle of our kinsmen winning such brilliant victories upon the element which we have always claimed, rightly or wrongly, as our own, appealed to us as a nation in a peculiar degree, we can yet feel deep sympathy with and compassion for Spain. There was infinite tragedy in the spectacle of a people going to certain defeat, because national pride would not permit it to abandon its colonies at the dictate of a stronger Power. We can best learn what the thoughts of Spaniards were by interrogating our own hearts as to what ours would have been under such circumstances. There is something pitiful and moving in the very poverty and resourcelessness of that unhappy squadron which the council of Spanish admirals sent to perish on the far-off beaches of Cuba; something that appeals to us with especial force in the useless heroism and devotion of the weak, ill-fed garrison of Santiago.
With her medieval organisation and eighteenth-cen tury methods, Spain was, indeed, bound to succumb. In this hour of her defeat she produced not a man. What credit in the war was won by her sons, was won by her soldiers and seamen, not by her generals and admirals.
Cervera was personally brave; he was chivalrous to a degree and he was badly used by the. Politicians, yet he cannot be described as a great or commanding figure.
As an Englishman, who will hardly be accused of any political bias in American affairs, I cannot refrain from expressing surprise at the unjust and cruel attacks which have been made in the American press upon Admiral Sampson, or from expressing admiration for the dignity, self-restraint, and nobility of heart with which he has borne himself under them. To Englishmen his ceaseless vigilance, his wise dispositions, his correct and accurate judgment, and his high courage seem to have deserved another recompense. And that I believe is the Opinion of all Americans worthy the name.
In this volume are incorporated small portions of various articles which I have written upon the war for the National Review, United Service Magazine, Ham/s Magazine, Army and Navy journal of New York, and Others, but in no case have the articles from these sources been incorporated whole. They have been re-written and te-cast, since much in them has been affected by later evidence. The description of the American ships is taken from Ironclad; in Action, edition 5, corrected and brought up to date. The loss of the Maine, which is a naval incident of the utmost interest, has been included as it logically should be in a history of the naval war.
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