to get at the
enemy, but I am afraid it has made him overleap sandbanks and tides,
and laid him aboard the enemy. I am as little used to find out the
impossible as most folks, and I think I can discriminate between the
impracticable and the fair prospect of success." The potentialities of
Cervera's squadron, after reaching the Spanish Antilles, must be
considered under the limitations of his sandbanks and tides; of
telegraph cables betraying his secrets, of difficulties and delays in
coaling, of the chances of sudden occasional accidents to which all
machinery is liable, multiplied in a fleet by the number of vessels
composing it; and to these troubles, inevitable accompaniments of
such operations, must in fairness be added the assumption of
reasonable watchfulness and intelligence on the part of the United
States, in the distribution of its lookouts and of its ships.

The obvious palliative to the disadvantage thus incurred by Spain
would have been to add to Cervera ships sufficient to force us at
least to unite our two divisions, and to keep them joined. This,
however, could not be done at once, because the contingent in Spain
was not yet ready; and fear of political consequences and public
criticism at home, such as that already quoted, probably deterred the
enemy from the correct military measure of drawing Cervera's squadron
back to the Canaries, some eight hundred or nine hundred miles; or
even to Spain, if necessary. This squadron itself had recently been
formed in just this way; two ships being drawn back from the Antilles
and two sent forward from the Peninsula. If Spain decided to carry on
the naval war in the Caribbean,--and to decide otherwise was to
abandon Cuba in accordance with our demand,--she should have sent all
the armored ships she could get together, and have thrown herself
frankly, and at whatever cost, upon a mere defensive policy for her
home waters, relying upon coast defences--or upon mere luck, if need
were--for the safety of the ports. War cannot be made without running
risks. When you have chosen your field for fighting, you must
concentrate upon it, letting your other interests take their chance.
To do this, however, men must have convictions, and conviction must
rest upon knowledge, or else ignorant clamor and contagious panic will
sweep away every reasonable teaching of military experience. And so
Cervera went forth with his four gallant ships, foredoomed to his fate
by folly, or by na