THE HONOURS OF THE WAR. 431 of the war came, in the first instance, from a Government committeeat Washington.

a high order. He had despised and underrated his enemy with disastrous consequences. And his failings were aggravated bv the hopelessly bad system of army administration and by the want of an experienced staff, both at the front and at the base of operations. Theinquiry into the conduct of the war carried out at Washington since the close of the operations has revealeda scandalous state of things among the professional politicians and amateur soldiers who controlled the organisation and supply of the army. The wonder is, not that things were so Among the commanders of fleets and squadrons SchleyandDewey were the popular heroes, though to some extent Hobson's fame for the sinking of the Merrimac was greater for awhile than even theirs. The army did not produce a single commander that reached the same level of distinction as the two commodores. General Wesley Merritt in the Philippines met with no serious resistance, and simply reaped the fruit of Dewey's triumph aided by the guns of the SKETCH MAI1 SHOWING THE GROWTH OF UNITED SIATES AM) LOSS OF SPAIN IN AMERICA.

victorious fleet. Miles in Puerto Rico accomplished little before the peace put an end to his operations, and his campaign was largely of the nature of what the French call "a military promenade." Shafter, on whom fell the most serious work,lost rather than gained reputation by his conduct of affairs before Santiago. He has since explained that some at least of the deficiencies set to his charge were the result of defective War-office administration, which left him short of some of the necessaries of armyequipment. He has suggested that he was unpopular with the correspondents,and that much of what was written about him during the campaign wasinspired by their ill-will. But when allallowance is made, his generalship wasnot of bad under such a system,but that they were not ten times worse.

It is probable thatif the war hael la-teellonger some of the subordinate leaders would have founel an opportunity for making themselves a permanentmilitary reputationas leadersof men. The individual officer in subordinate command who actually won the most widespread fame during the war was the volunteer colonel, Theodore Roosevelt. He proved himself both an excellent organiser and a skilful and daring leader, and the Santiago campaign prepared the way for his triumphant election to the governorship of New York State on his return home.

It is doubtful whether the conduct and results of the waradded tothe reputationanilpopularity