| Show WAR I 1 A little more then than two months ago the cultivated portion of the hum human race was shocked as only those who occupy advanced ground on this earth can be shocked A vessel from L neighboring and friendly power wa anchored in the waters of a harbor at t a point to which it had been directed by those in authority at the pass visited there was no expectation that evil designs would be practiced no thought of treachery brave and true men are not prone to har suspicion in the absence of overt acts warranting it at night the ehlts crew save the outlook were all snugly bestowed in their beds and many if not all of them asleep suddenly Sudden lir there was a loud and prolonged prolong eA but still more or less muffled roar the splendid vessel reared into the air and fell back broken apart rent fore and aft torn into minute fragments from stem to stern stem and from deck to keo only a section of plating or planking n here and there remaining as it had h been a moment before the men some of them what of thern them A A great majority of them were slain outright and of these a large number yet rg fi maln main amid the ruins fast passing out olat of eight and reach in the filthy boxe of havana harbor atrocity infinite treachery damnable murder most moat ewt there had been a mine placed where the ship was anchored and at dead ot of night the huge bomb was exploded from the shore by those who alone alme could do it and who alone were under andor the instructions and in the confidence of the he spanish government whosoever e sh eddeth mans blood by man sh shall his blood be shed nt not for revenge nor yet reprisal for none of these constitutes reparation but aw a in other cases of infamous crime iri an example must be made but fot for thle the many and resourceful fields of diplomacy might have furnished furni an adequate remedy for all that bur codet arv has to complain of and for the yi ole which afflict the cubans but no diplomacy no statecraft can make proper atonement tor for fhe be crime of hanaw harbor barbor except through the subjugation and humiliation of the nation which either eithe r ordered 0 or endorsed reed arid it may be both tm the c cowardly 0 murder murder tw for that reason the united FIta states hae ban declared c wa war r upon spain war which shall ahall not merely ate the sharers in the infamy but if possible locate and drag to justice the 1 a actual let ual perpetrators also shall it be the case that a race of people who for a generation have struggled to be free from the galling yoke of the tyrant beyond the seas obtain the object of their long contest at last through the good work to be accomplished in their behalf through the intervention of the mightiest of all nations the war is on and either by disgraceful withdrawal or disastrous defeat spain must be shorn of her possessions adjacent to our own the lesson to be administered may cost some precious lives and is sure to cost vast amounts of treasure but they will not be de wholly sacrificed the great eat republic will be stronger brighter and better for it the nations which are in doubt whether to respect our rights through proper regard or through fear of the consequences of not respecting them will be in doubt no more and the example of the power and benignity of popular rule will be such a lesson in human progress as will benefit the whole earth on to havana |
