The Rescue of Cuba An Episode in the Growth By Andrew S. Draper, LL.D. President of University of Illinois Silver; Burdett and Company Boston New York Chicago MDCCCXCIX TO THE HEROIC YOUTH OF OUR COUNTRY WHO AT THE CALL OF DUTY DO NOT HESITATE TO OFFER THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM AND THE FLAG. THI Preface HIS book has been written for young Americans. Its purpose is twofold: it aims, first, to exhibit the war of 1898 as one more step, and an important step, in the steady progress of the world towards universal liberty; it also aims to offer such a faithful picture of the heroism and manly quality of the American soldiers and sailors who gave their lives for the rescue of their oppressed neighbors, as may help my young countrymen to realize what it costs to extend free institutions, and to appreciate what it means to be an American citizen. The story of the slow movement of the human race out from the dark ages of universal tyranny into the modern age of freedom, enlightenment, and equality has never yet been clearly taught in our schools below the universities. For the last six or seven centuries the world has been moving from densest ignorance towards the era of the common school for everybody; from continuous disorder, warfare, and robbery, to peaceful commerce and safe industry; from the unbridled power of kings and nobles, to the security of a free, law-abiding state; from intolerance and persecution, to freedom of thought and liberty of speech. In this steady progress the topics of our special histories are only episodes, and they can be fully understood only when the student is able to give them their proper setting as parts of the grand human movement towards liberty. This progress of the world towards emancipation has met terrible antagonism. Kings and nobles have been against it. Ignorance, intolerance, and selfishness have always been in opposition to it. It has occasioned the greatest battles of history and has brought out the most conspicuous heroes of the race. Every free land has been made free by the richest human blood shed for liberty. The battles for freedom have done more than mark the people's advance towards liberty; these struggles have also quickened their wits, strengthened their manhood, and thus |