Excerpt from Views of Admiral Cervera: Regarding the Spanish Navy in the Late War, November, 1898<br><br>We will not refer, for the present, to the battle Of Santiago, which is now sub judice, but full light will be thrown upon this subject in due time. But previous events demonstrate the fore thought Of Rear Admiral Cervera and the lamentable blindness of those who would not hear him, and are sufficient for the Vindica tion Of the sailors of Santiago.<br><br>From documents known by many chiefs and Officers Of the navy it appears that Admiral Cervera expressed himself always ready to give absolute Obedience to the orders of the government; that he pointed out the dangers Of a disastrous war with the United States while it was still possible to avoid it; that he repeatedly reported the deficiencies in the vessels under his command; that he persistently Offered to come to Madrid to explain to the council of ministers the reasons why our fleet was going to certain destruction; that he was not allowed to explain these reasons to those about to take upon themselves the enormous responsibility Of this war; that he was forced to sail without a war plan, against his Opinion and that of all the commanders of the fleet, who signed a solemn protest declining the responsibility of the consequences; that finally many of the elements indispensable to put the ships in a fair condition were not supplied to him; that the 001677. Sailed without her tur ret artillery, and some of the Bilbao cruisers with some Of the pieces and ammunition defective, and at least one of them with her speed very much reduced on account of the state Of her bottom.<br><br>Though they possessed such conclusive and justifying docu ments, those officers had the self-denial, the patriotism, and the spirit Of discipline not to reply to the attacks made against them, thus setting a fine example which is very rare in these times of personal and corps egotism, general insubordination, and wild pas sions. This noble conduct makes it still more necessary to give full satisfaction to the navy by making public, when the Cortes meet, all the Official correspondence exchanged between Admiral Cervera and the minister of marine, as well as the supplementary private documents bearing on the subject.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.