I did not ask to be relieved, because it seems to me that no military man should do so when he receives instructions to march against the enemy. . . .
Today I consider the squadron lost as much as ever, and the dilemma
is whether to
lose it by destroying it, if Santiago is not able to resist, after
having contributed to its defense, or whether to lose it by sacrificing
to vanity the majority of its crews and depriving Santiago of their cooperation,
thereby precipitating its fall. What is best to
be done? I, who am a man without ambitions, without mad passions,
believe that whatever is most expedient should be done, and I state most
emphatically that I shall never be the one to decree the horrible and useless
hecatomb which will be the only possible result of the sortie from here
by main force, for I should consider myself responsible before God and
history for the lives sacrificed on the altar of vanity, and
not in the true defense of the country.
As far as I am concerned, the situation has been changed today from
a moral
standpoint, for I received a telegram this morning which places
me under the orders
of the Captain-General in everything relating to the operation of
the war. It is
therefore for him to decide whether I am to go out to suicide, dragging
along with me those 2,000 sons of Spain. I . . . trust you will see
in this letter only the true and loyal expression of the opinion of an
honorable old man who for forty-six years has served
his country to the best of his ability."
O'Toole, G. J. A., The Spanish War: An American Epic - 1898.
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1984). 285.
