America are to take in the next few months." Already on the
15th of May, Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, had said to the
Birmingham Liberal Unionists: "What is our next duty? It is to establish
and to maintain bonds of permanent amity with our kinsmen across the
Atlantic. There is a powerful and a generous nation.... Their laws,
their literature, their standpoint upon every question are the same as
ours."

In Manila Harbor, where Dewey lay with his squadron, these distant
forces of European colonial policy were at work. The presence of
representative foreign warships to observe the maintenance of the
blockade was a natural and usual naval circumstance. The arrival of two
German vessels therefore caused no remark, although they failed to pay
the usual respects to the blockading squadron. On the 12th of May
a third arrived and created some technical inconvenience by being
commanded by an officer who outranked Commodore Dewey. A German
transport which was in the harbor made the total number of German
personnel superior to that of the Americans, and the arrival of
the Kaiser on the 12th of June gave the Germans distinct naval
preponderance.

The presence of so powerful a squadron in itself closely approached an
international discourtesy. Disregarding the laws of blockade, as Dewey,
trained in the Civil War blockade of the South, interpreted them, the
German officers were actively familiar both with the Spanish officials
of Manila and with the insurgents. Finally they ensconced themselves in
the quarantine station at the entrance of the Bay, and Admiral Diedrichs
took up land quarters. Further, they interfered between the insurgents
and the Spaniards outside of Manila Bay. In the controversy between
Diedrichs and Dewey which grew out of these difficulties, Captain
Chichester, commanding the British squadron, supported Dewey's course
unqualifiedly and, moreover, let it be clearly known that, in the event
of hostilities, the British vessels would take their stand with the
Americans.

CHAPTER IX. The Blockade Of Cuba

While the first victory of the war was in the Far East and the
possibility of events of world-wide significance hung upon the
level-headedness of Commodore Dewey at Manila, it was realized that the
war must really be fought in the West. Both President McKinley and the
Queen Regent of Spain had issued proclamations stating that they would
adhere to the rules of the Declaration of Paris and not