With the Battle Fleet Part 19

"I am truly glad to see you. We can't do as much for you in the way of entertainment as our hearts could wish. We can't lavish wealth upon you, but such as we have is yours, all yours. We have remembered."

And so it was that Peru's entertainment of the fleet was not extravagant or burdensome. It was delicate rather than effusive. It was the welcome and hospitality of high breeding. From the first gun of the cruiser Bolognesi, sent 250 miles out to sea to escort the fleet in to Callao, to the last "Eep! Eep! Eep! Oorah!" on the tug that followed us furthest to sea as we left this morning every act of hospitality was in perfect taste and in a spirit utterly foreign to vulgar display.

Yes, Peru remembered, and its effect upon the American visitors was well expressed officially by Rear Admiral Thomas on board the Connecticut on February 27 at a dinner given in honor of President Pardo when he said:

"Nothing has been left undone that would add to our convenience, comfort or happiness, and, permit me to say, as military men, with the instinct of organization, we have been impressed with the perfection of every detail and the artistic taste displayed at every entertainment from the time the fleet dropped anchor in Callao Bay to the occasion of the brilliant garden party at the exposition grounds. But most important of all, and that which has touched our hearts deeply, is the warmth and sincerity of the welcome that has been accorded to us, so patent to all.

"In our fleet there are nearly six hundred officers and fourteen thousand men, and when we reach home waters and in the course of time these officers and men are dispersed throughout the forty-five States of the Union, visiting their respective homes, each and every one of them will be a missionary to carry a message throughout our broad land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, telling of this welcome, the result of which must of necessity tend to the drawing closer and closer the ties of union between the two republics. It will be a tradition to be handed down not only to our children, but to our children's children."

The Admiral's speech was the fleet's answer to the formal welcome of President Pardo at a dinner the republic gave to the Americans on the night of Washington's Birthday. This translation of the President's words was placed in front of each of the guests the instant President Pardo finished.

ADMIRAL: The arrival at our sh.o.r.es of American warships has always been looked forward to with the greatest pleasure by the Government of Peru and her citizens, as it gives us an opportunity for showing the true friendship which exists between this country and the United States and for my countrymen to extend a cordial welcome to the American Navy.

Were it possible our welcome would be augmented by the glorious spectacle which you present us in Callao of the starry banner waving from the masts of the most powerful fleet that has ever navigated the Pacific Ocean, as well as by your most successful accomplishment of this difficult voyage, which demonstrates the power and discipline of the American Navy, to-day universally acknowledged by the entire world.

With the sincere welcome of the Government and the people of Peru we wish to express our admiration of the justice which has inspired President Roosevelt's policy in the relations of the United States with the Latin-American countries and their relations between themselves, a policy which has met with the utmost success in the recent conference at Washington and a.s.sures a permanent peace in Central America.

A welcome to you, Admirals and officers of the American fleet.

Peru receives you with hearty friendship and reminds you that you are on friendly strands.

On this day, when your country honors the memory of George Washington, the founder of its glorious independence and of its admirable form of government, I ask you to join me in the toast I propose.

The prosperity of the United States, the health of its eminent President, Mr. Roosevelt, and that good luck may always accompany the fleet under your command.

So much for the official welcome. The unofficial welcome was everywhere.

It began as soon as the ships entered Callao Bay. There are no headlands or hills surrounding the harbor, which is practically an open roadstead.

The fleet had to anchor two miles out. The harbor was crowded with all sorts of little craft laden to the danger point. Every tug, every launch, all the sailboats that could be found, rowing barges, dories, two large ocean-going steamers, came out to say howdy and bearing cheering people by the thousand. Some of the little craft fired national salutes with toy cannon. Those that had whistles tied down the cords.

One tug was crowded with young men who insisted on giving the Cornell yell every time a ship pa.s.sed by.

As soon as anchors were cast a look sh.o.r.eward revealed that tens of thousands had come to the waterfront. Later when one went ash.o.r.e he learned that the Government had declared a holiday in honor of the arrival of the fleet and that all of Callao and Lima, seven miles distant, had come down to see the ships. The stores and shops were closed as if it were Sunday. Business was at a standstill. Official visits were begun at once, but those who could get away made haste to go to Lima on the modern trolley system which in addition to two railroads accommodates the traffic between the two cities.

The visitor noted that Callao was an ill smelling place of garish colored houses and narrow streets--a mere port of 40,000 inhabitants--and that it had many of the characteristics of some of the cities on the southern sh.o.r.e of the Mediterranean. Once out in the flat country, the visitor was reminded somewhat of the country between Brooklyn and Coney Island. Truck farms were frequent. What looked to be American corn was growing profusely side by side with banana trees and sugarcane fields. Patches of good old fashioned vegetables--onions, cabbages, radishes, lettuce--were also under cultivation. Large herds of fine cattle grazed on some of the fields, and in others were herded splendid flocks of sheep. It looked almost like home. The fences alone were strange. They were made of thick blocks of dried mud. The entire cultivation was dependent upon irrigation from the Rimac River, the splendid mountain stream that dashes down from the Andes in a torrent clear to the sea.

Then one came to Lima itself, situated on a plain girdled by the foothills of the Andes, with its low lying houses, all made of mud plastered upon bamboo reeds, with not a roof in the city that would shed water, for in Lima it never rains; to Lima, the one city in the Western Hemisphere which has preserved a large amount of the architecture of the Middle Ages and is rich in traditions of the past. There in this city of 150,000 people with its well paved streets, its bustling activities, its fine climate (the temperature never goes above 80 degrees, although the city is only 12 degrees from the equator) and attractive people the Americans found plastered on every building in town a paper reproduction of the American flag with the words printed on it:

"Welcome to the American fleet!"

Peru's flag was posted by its side frequently. The Government had done it. You see every person in town couldn't come up to you and tell you that he or she was glad to see you. He or she was; but it had to be told in some other way, and so these placards voiced the feeling of the people. If anything else were needed to complete the greeting it was supplied when the _Diario_, the leading newspaper of Lima, came out with halftone reproductions of ships, officers and the Annapolis Academy, a page of news in English from the United States and a formal welcome to the fleet. This welcome was unique. It is worth reproducing at length.

This is what it said:

Every social cla.s.s in our country, all the elements which make up the life of Peru, have attended with sincere exhilaration to contemplate the gallant representatives of the power and greatness of the United States.

These ships come after a trial of resistance which has proved the discipline, the self-denial, the moral energy, the patriotic pride of race, all those eminent faculties which beautify the spirit and elevate the personality of the great republic of the north.

Peru has the glory and good fortune among the nations of America to offer its hospitable strand to serve as a shelter during the short stay which their itinerary imposes on our guests.

Peru receives them with the affection of brothers, with the traditional and courteous n.o.bleness of our race, with the sympathetic and respectful admiration which the example of the great and lofty North American virtues awaken in our mind.

A people which has itself worked up in its own laboratory such a colossal fermentation of greatness, a people which owes everything to the efforts, to the activity, to the work, to the initiative of its men, a people which has not forsworn the splendid incentives of its ideals, and which carries within itself as a secret impulse to irradiate its spirit beyond its natural boundaries, is a people which raises in all others the warm and ample admiration which the Americans have experienced in the entire course of their voyage.

The powerful fleet which to-day reaches our sh.o.r.es, the most formidable and splendid which has stemmed the waters of this continent, does not come on a war footing or as a menace. A high sense of political prevision, the most eminent virtue of a statesman, induced President Roosevelt to order the movement of the Atlantic fleet to the Pacific coast. The ill.u.s.trious governor who carries on his shoulders the enormous responsibility of directing this great people has proved himself worthy of his post, contemplating with serenity and firmness all future eventualities, and consistent with his pacific intentions, which do not exclude designs of warlike prudence, has prepared himself by this spirited parade of force to prevent a war.

No technical authority, either military or diplomatic, believes in the probability or imminence of a great war. The United States have many efficacious resources for dissolving or removing indefinitely the threatening and apocalyptic spectre of a universal conflagration such as would take place in the world, given the present aggrupations of factors.

Their economic strength, their marvellous industrial richness, their bullion reserves, their growing population, their formidable means of attack and defence which we contemplate to-day, all these are so many conservative encouragements which will help to check audacity and outside ambition.

This welcome is presented to show how Lima and the editors of the _Diario_ really tried to make the Americans feel at ease. Of course the printed English translation failed to do full credit to the excellent Castilian of the original, but there could be no mistaking the genuineness of the welcome.

It was sincere all right, and no doubt there was a proud man in Lima as he contemplated the ma.s.s of fine words he had piled up. As soon as the paper came out and the Americans had pa.s.sed the word along that it was great there was a rush to get it. The visitors stopped one another on the street corners to read it aloud and the general comment was:

"Fine! It makes us feel as if we were right back in Brooklyn. No such language as that can be read in a newspaper in any other place in the world except Brooklyn. Of course we are used to such expressions as 'colossal fermentation of greatness,' 'threatening and apocalyptic spectre,' 'aggrupations of factors' and the like of that in Brooklyn, but who would have imagined that we'd meet 'em so far from home?"

And as if that wasn't enough to make it plain to the Americans that the freedom of the place was theirs they were met at the terminal of the trolley line from Callao with men who distributed a pamphlet of information got out by a firm with American names, makers and purveyors of a popular libation. The t.i.tle page bore this inscription:

"Here's happy days to the men of the American squadron!"

The inside of the pamphlet told salient facts and gave statistics about Callao and Lima, informed you how to get about, where to go and what to see among the "points of interest." The way it put the matter was this: "Over and above a hearty welcome, here's what's worth while." It advised the visitors to give the s.e.xton of the Cathedral a tip for showing them Pizarro's bones, but said:

"Don't tip him too much or you'll spoil the market, 'cause this isn't New York."

Then the pamphlet said, sundry items of advertising being eliminated:

SPECIAL NOTES.--DRINKS and their PRICES.--"SWEAR WORDS" and How to say them in SPANISH, etc.

c.o.c.ktail 25 to 30 cts. peruvian equal to 15 cts. American.

Whiskey, Gin, Sherry ("hair ace") Port (Oporto) etc. all cost the same. The c.o.c.ktails known here are, American, Martini, Whiskey, and Fresas (strawberry).

NO! is No! just as we say it, and the harder you p.r.o.nounce it the better it is understood.

YES! si, p.r.o.nounced "see."

Vaya go on, p.r.o.nounced as spelt (Roseveltian, excuse this).

Sigue no mas! (seegay no mas) Drive on!

Corida de Toros Bull-Fight

Plaza de Toros Bull Ring

Toro Bull

Torero Bull Fighter

Matador The Killer, this is the man who finally does the trick.

Fuera Toro!!! p.r.o.nounced fuera toro, "put the Bull out.

he's no good! Give us a Bull that Fights":