sent like sheep to the slaughter, and all for an idea,—­and that a perfectly stupid and useless one,—­there is no gainsaying the facts which Captain Concas Palan relates, and the original telegrams verify every word of his story.  Admiral Cervera was sent out with sealed orders; but he had done all that was in his power—­even asking to be relieved of his command—­to prevent the folly of sending away from the coasts of the mother country the only ships which could have protected her, while they were absolutely useless against the American navy in the Antilles.  Left with no alternative but obedience, he managed to gain the safe harbour of Santiago de Cuba with his squadron intact.  Secure from attack, he landed his men to assist in the defence of the town from the land side.  And then came the incredible orders that he was to take out his four ships to be destroyed by the American navy waiting outside!  Never in the world’s history was a more magnificent piece of heroism displayed than in the obedience to discipline which caused Admiral Cervera to re-embark his marines and lead them forth to certain death, well knowing what they were to face, for he hid nothing from them.  He called on them as sons of Spain, and they answered heroically, as Spaniards have ever done in history:  “For honour!”

Spain has suffered deeply and sorely in her pride; but she has never worn her heart on her sleeve—­she suffers in silence.  A quotation from the Epoca of July 5th, two days after the destruction of Cervera’s fleet, shows the spirit in which the country bore that terrible blow.  It is headed “Hours of Agony.”  “Our grief to-day has nothing in it which was unexpected.  The laws of logic are invincible; our four ships could not by any possibility have escaped the formidable American squadron.  The one thing that Spain expected of her sons was that they should perish heroically.  They have perished!  They have faced their destiny; they have realised the sole end which Spain looked for, in this desperate conflict into which she has been drawn by God knows what blind fatality; they have fallen with honour.”

That is true; but how about the leaders whose long misrule of the colonies had helped to bring on the disaster which their predecessors for many years had courted?  How about the political corruption which, when large sums were being spent on the colonies, had allowed immense private fortunes to be made while Manila was left without defences, and the absolutely unassailable bay of Santiago de Cuba had on the fort which commanded its entrance only useless old guns of a past century, more likely to cause the death of those who attempted to serve them than to injure an enemy?  How about the Government that deliberately entered on a war of which the end was perfectly foreseen, and, while seated safely in office at home, thought the “honour of Spain” sufficiently vindicated by offering up its navy, already made useless by neglect and niggardliness, as a sacrifice?  Captain Concas