It is a proud banner, which stands the whole world over for freedom and right, with few stains of defeat or injustice upon its folds.  The great heart of the nation swelled with pride at the righteousness of the cause, with an assurance that eternal history would praise America for the unselfish work.  On land and sea the boys in blue gave new fame to the flag, and their proud record in the past was more than justified by the honors that they won.

Two wars with Great Britain and one with Mexico were the more notable predecessors of this conflict with Spain.  If to these should be added the hostilities between the United States and the Barbary pirates of Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli, and the scattered brushes with two or three Oriental and South American countries, the list might be extended.  But those affairs are not remembered as wars in the true sense of the word.

Except for protection against Indian outbreaks, the United States had been at peace for thirty years, when the war cloud began to loom in the horizon.  It was with a full realization of the blessings of peace that the American people yielded to the demands, of humanity and righteous justice, to take up arms again in the cause of liberty.  There was no haste, no lack of caution, no excited plunge into hostilities without proper grounds.  The nation made sure that it was right.  An intolerable condition of affairs resulting from years of agony in a neighbor island, with half a dozen immediate reasons, any one sufficient, was the absolute justification for this holy war.

Spain is the Turk of the West.  Spain is an obsolete nation.  Living in the past, and lacking cause for pride to-day, she gloats over her glorious explorations and her intellectual prowess of the middle ages when much of Europe was in darkness.  Then Spain’s flag led pioneers throughout the world.  But her pride was based on achievements, many of which, to the people of any other nation, would have been the disgrace of its history.  No indictment of Spain can ever be more severe, more scathing, if its true significance be considered, than the famous phrase which one of her proudest poets created to characterize her flag of red and yellow.

“Sangre y oro,” he said, “blood and gold—­a stream of gold between two rivers of blood.”

It is almost a sufficient characterization to indicate the whole national spirit of Spain, to recall that this phrase is the proud expression used by the Spanish people to glorify their own flag.  That sentiment is in no stronger contrast to the American phrase, “the star-spangled banner,” than are the people of Spain to the people of the United States.

“Remember the Maine.”

From the day of the outbreak of the Cuban revolution, early in 1895, until nearly the end of January, 1898, there had been no flag of the United States seen in any harbor of Cuba except upon merchant vessels.  Always before, it had been the policy of our government to have ships of war make friendly calls in the harbors of all countries of the world at frequent intervals, and Cuban waters had shared these courtesies.