The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-17
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.

The great ma ority of naval officers have al
ways been opposed to having one of their
own number at the head of the Navy Depart
ment. 1t is admitted that there would be
some advantage obtained if the Secretary
were selected from one of the officers high on
the roll but, leaving other important con-
siderations out of the question, it is esteemed
far more advantageous to have a civilian, who
will be free from all the jealousies and heart
burnings that exist in the service, and who
will be able to adjudicate impartially upon all
disputed questions that arise. This feeling
has been greatly intensified since the acces-
sion of President Grant, as it is understood
that Admiral Porter is the de ,tdctO Secre-
tary. 1t was through the advice of
this officer that the various unpopular acts of
the late Secretary were perpetrated; and while
it was hoped by naval officers in all branches
of the service that Secretary Robson would
take the reins in his own hands, there has as
yet been no signs that he intends to do so.
There are few persons who know anything of
Admiral Porter but will decide that he is one
of the most unfit men in the service for the
delicate position he now holds. We admit all
that can be said for him as a gallant, patri-
otic and skilful commander, but personally
he is unpopular to the last degree, and he is
one of those officers who think that the navy
of the United States exists for the sole benefit
of the graduates of the Naval Academy in
general and of the Porter family in particular.
This judgment may seem harsh, but it is
true, and it is essential that such things should
be said, as the course of the Navy Department
Al. L -
great amount of serious dissatisfaction among
the officers of the navy, and has brought the
service into ridicule andIdone it much injury.
The old squabble between the line and
staff officers was revived in all it's intensity as
soon as Admiral Porter obtained the control
of the department. The surgeons, paymas-
ters, and engineers were deprived of the rank
| and privileges that had been accorded them,
and the uniforms were so altered as to mark
| in the most distinct and invidious manner the
| difference between the two branches of the
service. 1t may seem small matter for
men to quarrel about the amount
of gold lace and brass buttons that they shall
wear; and SO it is if that was ALL The great
majority of officers of all grades, however,
would be we'll satisfied if their uniforms were
made as plain as possible, but by the new
regulations the line officers have been be-
dizened with lace and buttons in particu-
larly gorgeous manner, while the decorations
of the staff officers have been reduced in a
corresponding proportion, making them at
once appear as if belonging to inferior grades,
and by no means as the equals of the line. The
staff officers have never asked for military
command, or for any privileges that will inter
fere with the just position Of the line officers,
but they have asked for the assimilated rank,
the proper uniforms, and the privileges of
| quarters which will make their social position
on board ship equal to that Of the line Off
GERS. In other words, they ask to be put upon
the same footing exactly as the staff officers
| of the army. The intellectual training and
discipline of the Naval Academy never have
been such that its graduates can claim any
| superiority on that account over the surgeons
and engineers as a military school, it always
has been inferior to West Point, and it is a
question whether its eff cheney has been in
creased under Admiral Porter, who is reported
to pay more attention to the heels than to the
heads of his pupils, and to esteem the dane
ing-master above the professor of mathe-
matics. 1t is certainly time for Congress to
take up this question of the rank and privi-
leges of the staff and line, and settle it ON
equitable principles, so that no jealous in
huences in the Navy Department will be able
to disturb it.
1t always has been one of Admiral Porter S
hobbies to initiate in our service the pecu-
baritiea Of the English navy, This, aa much