"Americans all."

We are proud of our army and navy, and justly so. Dewey destroyed a
large fleet, without the loss of a man, a feat unprecedented in the
annals of warfare, ancient or modern. Sampson bottled up Cervera's fleet
in the harbor of Santiago, after the wily admiral had attempted a
diplomacy which was nothing more nor less than absurd, and when
Cervera, on the eve of the surrender of the city, attempted to escape
from his self-constituted trap, his four armored cruisers and two
torpedo boat destroyers were literally riddled and sunk outside the
harbor by the skilful gunners of the American fleet. Hobson, in sinking
the Merrimac, displayed a heroism that has never been surpassed. And on
land, General Shafter's achievements have been brilliant in the extreme.

It is interesting here to examine for a moment the attitude of other
countries toward us since the declaration of war with Spain.

Of course they all declared neutrality.

At first France apparently was very bitter against us, declaring that it
was a war of aggression and one that was unjustified. We think we have
already shown in these pages how unwarrantable such an accusation was.
There was a reason for France's feeling, outside of the fact that her
people, like Spain's, belong to the Latin race, and that reason was that
a large proportion of Spanish bonds was held in France. Even the best of
us do not bear with equanimity anything which depletes our pockets. But
it was not long before a great change took place both in press and
public and a wave of French sympathy turned toward us. This is as it
should be and was inevitable. There could be no lasting rancor between
us and our sister republic, the country who gave us Lafayette and
presented us with the Statue of Liberty.

The press of Germany has unquestionably said some very harsh things.
But we are confident that the feeling is confined to the press and does
not represent the mass of the people. We do know that it is in no way
representative of the German government, which from the very beginning
has showed itself most friendly to us. The ties between Germany and the
United States are too strong ever to be severed, with the thousands and
thousands of Germans in this country who rank among our very best
citizens.

Russia, who from time immemorial has been our friend and given us her
moral support in all our troubles, has treated us with the utmost
cordiality.

But the pleasantest thing of all