Their mental horizon had been immensely widened by the
possession, gained in the war, of some islands in the Pacific whose
existence we had never heard of before.
Until that time there had been for us only two nations in the
world, the United States and England, the country with which we had
fought two wars, and innumerable national campaigns. Historically
there had of course been another country as friendly as England had
sometimes been inimical, France, but France had ceased to be a
nation and became a succession of revolutions.
Manila Bay had been a series of revelations, besides teaching us
that Philippines is spelled with two "ps" and only one "l." We had
there discovered Germany, a country whose admirals had bad sea
manners. We knew at once that our next war would be with Germany,
although the day before Dewey said, "You may fire when you are
ready, Gridley," we would as soon have thought that our next war
would be with Patagonia.
There too we had an interesting and surprising experience with
England, hitherto known chiefly for her constant designs on the
national dinner pail. She behaved in striking and pleasing contrast
with Germany. Blood, on that bright day, May 1, 1898, began to be
thicker than water. Learning once more had come out of the East.
From Manila Bay flowed such a tide of new ideas, such a
reassessment of old conceptions as had not visited the world since
the discovery of Greek and Latin letters put an end to the Middle
Ages.
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