American Monthly Magazine

VOL. XIII. WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER, 1898.

PARALLELS IN HISTORY.

No. 4

NOW THAT the war is over-I might better say that the fighting is over, for the war and its consequences are not over, but the ways of peace are upon us-it is well to look around us and again go over the bold outline of recent events and parallel daily happenings and great enterprises with other days and other centuries, and possibly we shall find that we have gained a point by comparison. We shall also find that this is not a finished earth, but that the old world is being played upon and worked over, according to the trend of the centuries.

It is but a few weeks ago that the Spanish were assembling a fleet at Cadiz that was going to demolish all the harbors of the New World, her torpedo fleet was to make a sub-marine fleet of Uncle Sam's ships almost without effort. The summer influx at the seashore was reduced to a minimum and the Saratoga trunks were left unpacked for fear of a visit from some Spanish armada. Our great battleships would turn a somersault when the first gun was fired, they were so topheavy, said the English; and our soldiers could not hit a mark, said the French-they were volunteers.

And so the people worried and trembled at the thought of a Spanish fleet invading our coast. The worrying days came and went, but the fleet came not. Perhaps had we paralleled these days with those that have been we might have found rest from our fears of invasion.*

*Our attention was called to this historical data in an article which appeared in the Washington Post over the signature of G. W. P. If the readers would consult the Bible they will find many verifications of prophecy beside those given.

It may not be remembered by all that the City of Cadiz in whose harbor have located every ship of the Spanish main is the Tarshish of Paul. You also may remember that when Jonah. wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord he took ship for Tarshish; they are also careful to relate that he paid his fare. Whether he procured a rebate does not appear.

Why Jonah should be so sure that he would be free from the presence of the Lord in Tarshish we are not informed, but we do know that Tarshish occupied that part of the coast line between the mouth of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir rivers. Some of the ruins of the old city Gadiz, which is identical with Cadiz, are said to be still extant beneath the sea. When Solomon was a boy Tarshish was an old city. The Phoenecians were the maritime people of the world. They built this city and settled it and opened trade with the native Iberians. After the Punic wars this city was under the dominion of the Roman Empire and then the Goths swept down upon it, and then the Moors, and in the thirteenth century it was rebuilt as Cadiz. Had we consulted history and drawn our parallels a little closer we might have had no fears this last summer in listening to the ocean's roar on the beach at Rockaway; for do we not read in Isaiah, "Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl ye inhabitants of the isle.

"Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own fleet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

"The Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof.

"Howl ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste." We know the disasters that befel the ships of Tarshish and the above quotations are prophetic of disasters that have fallen upon Spanish fleets, which have floated on the Spanish waters that have laved the shores of the Guadalquivir since the days that Hiram brought ships of Tarshish to Solomon, laden with gold and silver, ivory, asses and peacocks, to the day that the Spanish flag was struck over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and "Old Glory" floated over the waters at the command of Dewey.

The great naval expedition planned and sent out by King

Philip of Spain against England in the days of Queen Elizabeth, known as the invincible armada, was collected at Cadiz. This was 310 years ago. From this port two fleets have sailed. The purpose of one was to crush the Anglo-Saxon civilization of the Old World, and the other the Anglo-Saxon civilization of the New World. The first expedition-the Armada-was armed and equipped by the noblest blood Spain had to offer. In 1587, when all things were in readiness, Admiral Drake made a dash into the harbor of Cadiz and destroyed one hundred ships, with abundant arms and stores, repeating the prophecy, "Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish." This delayed the expedition one year. In July, 1588, 310 years ago, the Armada put out and set sail up the English channel.

What a glorious sight it must have been to see one hundred and thirty ships, with every sail stirring under the air of heaven, moving with the precision of the tide. Riding on the bosom of the sea were 19,000 soldiers, 8,000 sailors, and galley slaves galore to do the rowing, and 2,341 guns. We are told it was ostensibly a pious object for which this expedition set forth, to recover countries to the church oppressed by the enemies of the faith, and yet we must remember that it was to Tarshish Jonah wished to flee from the presence of the Lord.

The fleet appeared off the coast of England in the form of a crescent, and for seven long miles stretched the white-winged ships of Spain. The Royal British Navy, which was sent out to face this formidable foe, had but thirty-five effective fighting ships; the rest were merely transports. In comparison, we find the Spanish fleet almost double the English fleet in tonnage, the figures being 59,120 as against 29,744. The English were poorly armed and rations short. The characteristic economy of Queen Elizabeth never showed to greater disadvantage, but she had the naval commanders of the world at her hand. Lord Howard was admiral and Sir Edmund Drake and Hawkins and Frobisher were commanders.

When the encounter came the light ships and swift sailors of the English fleet obeyed the intelligent commands like something human; every maneuver showed the skill of a master mind. The Spanish ships were huge and unwieldy, were slow