There is no news of importance either from Spain or
America. In the United States the nation is learning with indignation the details of what its troops had to endure before Santiago, and is inclined to make a scapegoat of Mr. Alger. Obviously, Mr. Alger is not a Carnot, but it is hardly fair to put all the blame on him. The real cause of the misery and muddle was the absurd belief so widely enter- tained in A.merica that you can make war without prepara- tion. Amateur soldiering, and especially amateur transport and amateur commissariat, is cruel work. The accounts from Spain are deplorable, the nation, as a rule, showing a kind of dogged misery, but occasionally breaking out into a frenzied desire for amusement. Witness the rage in many places for public shows, which culminated in Madrid in a bull-fight with young women acting as toreros,—a per-, formance which, however, has been widely denounced. The Cortes has been summoned for September 5th. Till it meets the fire will smoulder.
