Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-01-26
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

of the New York Times, writing from Panama
under date of Jan. 1st, brings divers cnarses
against the officers of the Navy Department.
and deals out billingsgats abuse OF them win
out stint He commences the chapter with an
unfair statement of the conduct of the Depart
ment in sending officers and men to Panama
to relieve those on the sloop Of war st. Mary's.
These had been at Panama, he says, for a
month. the men being crowded on board the
Saranac, which happened to be lying there,
and the officers compelled to board in the town
at 81 per day, while the vessel is cruising some
1000 miles up the coast. This he attributed
to the "bungling" of the Department officers,
although he must have known that it is a NAL
adventure consequent upon causes beyond all
human perception to foresee or power to con-
troll. The circumstances are briefly thus ::
Commander Davis, the officer in charge of the
st. Mary S, informed the Department, on leav-
ing San Francisco, that his vessel would proceed
to Panama, stopping at Acapulco, and other
points on the Mexican coast. Accordingly, on
the 4th of 0,tOber, the Department sent orders
to him at Acapulco, to proceed to Guaymas.
These orders left New York on the 7th of o.
tober; and it was probable they would reach
Acapulco by about the 22d-not sooner. On
the 18th of October, Commander Davis wrote
the Department from Acapulco that he had re-
ceivcd letter from Flag-oficer Long which
would induce him to shorten his stay at AGA
pulco, and that, by the 18th of November, the
st. Mary's would be at Panama. This letter
was received at the Department on the 29th Of
October. Concluding from this land it would
haye been rashness to do otherwise) that Com
Davis would not remain at Acapulco sufi
GENTLY long for the orders directing him to 20
| to Gusymas to reach him, the Department i'm.
medistely made arrangements to send the re
lieving officers and crew, by the mail steamer
OF the 10th Of November, to Panama SO as to
meet the vessel there.
1t seems, however, that Com Davis was un.
expectedly detained at Acapulco, and on the
Both of October he received the orders directing
him to repair to Gusymas, which he accord.
ingiy obeyed. Of course, when the officers and
crew sent from New York reached Panama the
ot. Mary's was not there, and they were
compelled to remain to await further orders
In all this, there is not the slightest cause fol
attaching censure to the officers of the Depart
ment, nor to any one else. As we state above
| 1T was the result Of a combination of circum
stances, impossible to be foreseen and counter
acted.
Another charge is that Flag-oficer Armstrong
on being relieved Of the command of the Eas
India squadron, on the expiration of his term
ordered Fleet-surgeon Wood to return with hin
overland from the China seas, on account o.
his ill-health. This trip, Gays the Times cor
respondent, cost the Surgeon 81 ,000 which the
Department refuses to pay, though expressly
authorized and directed to do so by the law
and yet had the Surgeon refused to obey the
Flag officer, he would have been dismissed from
the service, dc. Surely the author of the let
ter must have known that the selection of a
fleet-surgeon is, by law, vested in the Presi-
dent, and the act of the Secretary in ordering
him as such, is the act of the President. But
the Secretary, in directing Commodore Arm
streng to return to the United States, did not
authorize him to take the Fleet-surgeon of the
squadron with him for his own personal couve-
nienee; nor did be approve of his doing 60.
Neither were the expenses of Surgeon Wood
charged against him by the Department but
against Com. Armstrong, who made himself
personally responsible for their payment, by
his order
There are two other charges In the list, but
II strictly true, they amount to nothing, as
there are numerous combinations of circum-
stances under which they would both become
wholly justifable. Hence, we will let them
pass, satisfied that those who may read them
will readily perceive that they are dictated by
venonous disposition, and perverted for the
qualification of personal animosity The ex-
position OF the amin1ns of the charges, which
we have already given, is surely enough to
convince every fair-minded reader that this
essayed attack on the Secretary is wholly un-
founded throughout.