had declared that the North American people "were constituted of all the social excrescences;" their squadron was "manned by foreigners possessing neither instruction nor discipline." As a matter of fact, the percentage of American-born seamen in Dewey's squadron was about eighty all told. The Archbishop of Manila who, it was said, had written the Captain-General's proclamation, visited the Olympia some months afterwards and Dewey had the ship's company paraded in his honor. "As he saw the fine young fellows march past," wrote the Admiral, "his surprise at their appearance was manifest." "Admiral," he said, "you must be very proud to command such a body of men." "Yes, I am," was the reply, "and I have just the same kind of men on board all the other ships in the harbor." "Admiral," the Archbishop rejoined, "I have been here for thirty years. I have seen the men-of-war of all the nations but never have I seen anything like this," as he pointed to the Olympia's crew.

Dewey paid tribute to his officers as well as to his men. "I doubt," he said in his report, "if any commander-inchief under similar circumstances, was ever served by more loyal, efficient and gallant captains than those of the squadron now under my command." 1

The moral effect of Dewey's victory was great. It gave the country confidence in her navy. It was generally thought that on paper the Spanish Navy was supe

1 My authorities for the battle of Manila Bay are Dewey's account printed in his Autobiography; reports of Dewey, Gridley, Coghlan, Walker, Dyer, Wood, Wildes, Montojo, the Spanish Admiral, printed by Crowninshield. I have also used The War with Spain, Lodge; The New American Navy, Long; and I have consulted the Autobiography of Roosevelt; Twenty Years of the Republic, Peck; America as a World Power, J. H. Latané (Hart's American Nation Series); The Nation, May 5, 12, 1898.

rior, and it might prove so in action. As a formidable fleet would certainly be sent across the ocean, imagination ran riot as to the destruction it might cause to the seaboard cities and to the summer resorts on the coast. Many Boston men took their securities inland to Worcester and Springfield. Roosevelt spoke of it as a "fairly comic panic" and wrote truly, "The state of nervousness along much of the seacoast was funny in view of the lack of foundation for it." For the authorities in Washington, naval and otherwise, had perfect trust in the American Navy and felt that with a fair show it would destroy any Spanish squadron sent across the water to take a necessary part in the war. Now Dewey's victory showed the stuff in the officers and men of the American Navy and imparted a confidence to the general public that was sorely needed at the commencement of hostilities.

1

Sympathy in the large powers of Europe on the continent was with Spain, and especial manifestations were in Paris and Berlin. If there was any design to interfere in the conflict, it was checked by the attitude of England, who favored decidedly the United States. Dewey's victory strengthened the position of England by rendering any intervention on the part of the continental powers impossible. Sentiment on the continent was that, in the first encounters, Spain would be victorious, such was the confidence felt in her navy and distrust in the American sea power. Andrew D. White, our Ambassador to Germany, gave a vivid account of the sentiment, as shown in the German newspapers and in an interview granted by Mommsen, on the conduct of the United States toward

1 Autobiography, 235.

Spain. This, White wrote, "was even more acrid than his previous utterances and exhibited sharply and at great length our alleged sins and shortcomings." Following the Spanish newspapers, which liked to call their opponents "Yankee pigs," the "continental press teemed with the grossest caricatures, in which the Americans were drawn as swine." 2

Anatole France in his novel "L'Anneau d'Améthyste (226), published in 1899, gave this lively account of a conversation in a Paris salon: A general expressed the opinion that "in declaring war on Spain the Americans were imprudent and it may cost them dear. Having neither an Army nor a Navy it will be difficult for them to maintain a conflict with a trained army and experienced sailors. . . . The Americans are not prepared for war, and war requires long preparation."

"Now then, general," cried a lady, "do tell us that those American bandits will be beaten."

"Their success is doubtful," replied the general. "I should say that it would even be absurd, and would amount to an insolent contradiction of the whole system in vogue among military nations. In short the victory of the United States would constitute a practical criticism of principles adopted in the whole of Europe by the most competent military authorities. Such a result is neither to be expected nor desired."

"What luck!" exclaimed the lady, "Our friends the Spaniards will be victorious. Vive le roi!"

"Certain facts seem to indicate that the Americans are

1 Autobiography, 11, 160, 178. White saw the proof sheets of the interview but it was never published.

8 Peck, 544, 553.

beginning to repent of their rashness," said a gentleman of the party. "It is said that they are terrified. They expect any day to see Spanish warships appear on their Atlantic coast. Inhabitants of Boston, New York and Philadelphia are fleeing in great numbers toward the interior of the country. It is a general panic."

A servant brought in the mail. "Perhaps there will be news of the war," said the gentleman opening a newspaper. Amid an intense silence, he read aloud: "Commodore Dewey has destroyed the Spanish fleet in the port of Manila. The Americans did not lose a single man."

"On the 30th of April, 1898," wrote Dewey, "I had been practically unknown to the American public. In a day my name was on everyone's lips. The dash of our squadron into an Oriental bay seven thousand miles from home had the glamour of romance to the national imagination." 1

2

After the battle of Manila Bay, Senator Redfield Proctor wrote to President McKinley: "Dewey will be as wise and safe, if there are political duties devolving on him, as he is forcible in action. There is no better man in discretion and safe judgment." The sequel showed how profoundly the Senator comprehended the Admiral. After the battle, Dewey established a blockade of Manila which he aimed to maintain thoroughly and impartially. A good student of international law, he was guided in his conduct by the best of authorities, and his attitude to the men-of-war sent by several nations to Manila Bay for purposes of observation, was correct. The English, who

thoroughly sympathized with the United States, the Japanese, who partially did so, and the French, whose feeling was favorable to the Spaniards, respected Dewey's authority and permitted him to prescribe rules for their guidance. Not so the Germans, who were a law unto themselves and chafed against the exercise of any authority not their own.

After Dewey's return to Washington, at a dinner at the White House given him by the President, the President desired to know the truth of the statements frequently made in the newspapers regarding the friction between him and the German Vice-Admiral. "There is no record of it at all on the files," McKinley said. “No, Mr. President," Dewey answered, "as I was on the spot and familiar with the situation from day to day, it seemed best that I look after it myself, at a time when you had worries enough of your own." 1 Dewey came into collision with the Germans a number of times before the arrival of the Vice-Admiral von Diedrichs. On June 12, he came in on his flag-ship, the Kaiserin Augusta making the third German cruiser in the harbor; another was expected and a transport had already arrived. In accordance with naval etiquette, Dewey made the first call upon Diedrichs and referred to the large German force and the limited German interest in the Philippines. The British, with a much larger commercial interest, with a greater number of resident subjects, with the largest naval force of any power in far Eastern waters, never had at any one time during the blockade more than three warships in Manila harbor. To Dewey's gentle

1 Dewey, Autobiography, 252.