preparation, as well as thrill
with patriotic emotion over an heroic episode or a brilliant victory.

It is with the object of contributing to such intelligent
comprehension that the following critical narrative, which first
appeared in one of our popular monthlies, is again submitted to the
public in its present form. It professes no more than to be an
attempt, by a student of military as well as naval warfare, to
present a reasoned outline of a part of the operations of the war,
interspersed with such reflections upon naval warfare, in its generals
and its particulars, as have arisen naturally in the course of the
story. The method adopted, consequently, is the second of those
mentioned in the beginning of these remarks; a consecutive narrative,
utilized as a medium for illustrating the principles of war. The
application of those principles in this discussion represents the
views of one man, believed by him to be in accordance with a
considerable body of professional thought, although for this he has no
commission to speak; but to some of them also there is, in other
quarters, a certain distinct professional opposition.

The aim of the author here, as in all his writings, has been so to
present his theme as to invest it with the rational interest attaching
to a clear exposition of causes and effects, as shown in a series of
events. Where he may have failed, the failure is in himself, not in
his subject. The recent Spanish-American War, while possessing, as
every war does, characteristics of its own, differentiating it from
others, nevertheless, in its broad analogies, falls into line with
its predecessors, evidencing that unity of teaching which pervades the
art from its beginnings unto this day. It has, moreover, the special
value of illustrating the reciprocal needs and offices of the army and
the navy, than which no lesson is more valuable to a nation situated
as ours is. Protected from any serious attempt at invasion by our
isolated position, and by our vast intrinsic strength, we are
nevertheless vulnerable in an extensive seaboard, greater, relatively
to our population and wealth--great as they are--than that of any
other state. Upon this, moreover, rests an immense coasting trade, the
importance of which to our internal commercial system is now scarcely
realized, but will be keenly felt if we ever are unable to insure its
freedom of movement.

We also are committed, inevitably and irrevocably, to an over-se