uch as the
writer has here educed, are not unprofitable; rather the reverse. To
form them, the writer and the reader place themselves perforce nearly
in Cervera's actual position, and pass through their own minds the
grist of unsolved difficulties which confronted him. The result of
such a process is a much more real mental possession than is yielded
by a quiet perusal of any ascertained facts, because it involves an
argumentative consideration of opposing conditions, and not a mere
passive acceptance of statements. The general conclusion of the
present writer, from this consideration of Cervera's position, and of
that of our own Government, is that the course of the Spanish Admiral
was opportunist, solely and simply. Such, in general, and necessarily,
must be that of any "fleet in being," in the strict sense of the
phrase, which involves inferiority of force; whereas the stronger
force, if handled with sagacity and strength, constrains the weaker
in its orbit as the earth governs the moon. Placed in an extremely
false position by the fault, militarily unpardonable, of his
Government, Admiral Cervera doubtless did the best he could. That in
so doing he caused the United States authorities to pass through some
moments of perplexity is certain, but it was the perplexity of
interest rather than of apprehension; and in so far as the latter was
felt at all, it was due to antecedent faults of disposition on our own
part, the causes of which have been in great measure indicated
already. The writer is not an angler, but he understands that there is
an anxious pleasure in the suspense of playing a fish, as in any
important contest involving skill.

To say that there was any remarkable merit in the movements of the
Spanish Admiral is as absurd as to attribute particular cleverness to
a child who, with his hands behind his back, asks the old conundrum,
"Right or left?" "It is all a matter of guess," said Nelson, "and the
world attributes wisdom to him who guesses right;" but all the same,
by unremitting watchfulness, sagacious inference, and diligent
pursuit, he ran the French fleet down. At Martinique, Admiral Cervera
had all the West Indies before him where to choose, and the United
States coast too, conditioned by coal and other needs, foreseen or
unforeseen. We ran him down at Santiago; and had he vanished from
there, we should have caught him somewhere else. The attempt of the
Spanish authorities to create an impression that