The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-01

|
tirely misunderstood. We never for mo-
ment contemplated legislation on the sub ject,
or meant to express the slightest wish for it.
| 1t is peculiarly matter for executive discre-
tion, and one as to which, it seems to u.s.
sound executive discretion can never
be at fault. An act of Congress on such
subject would be as preposterous and mis-
chievous as the "coat-apd-trouser legisla-
tion of a session or two ago; and to such
an extent are we of accord with
our naval friend that we can imagine
case when it might he necessary
as In some of the scandalous instances he re-
fers to, FOR O Secretary of the Navy in accord
with his colleague of the State Department
to instruct capable and discreet officer (for
there are such) to supervise an incompetent
Presidential diplomatic pet. 1t is a matter
as to which there are many exceptions The
case of diplomatic vacancy at a distant post
is, to certain extent, in point and one
occurs TO us which, as an exception, does not
initiate against the rule we assert, and
which is probably not within the per-
sonsl knowledge of our correspondent, vete-
ran and venerable though he be. On the Sth
of August, 1S4j, Mr.. Alexander H. Everett
our Minister in China, resigned on account
of ill-health-dying not long afterwards-and
appointed Commodore James Biddle, then in
command of the frigate Columbia, in those
seas, charge dd1d5TeS. As such he acted for
eight months-a very critical period in our
Oriental story-and, as we learn from those
who are familiar with the subject, admins
tered the trust with singular discretion and
ability, and without ever receiving from the
Government at home a word of advice as to
what he should do or censure for what he
did. This was we repeat, the exceptional
case of an old-fashioned, intelligent, stu
dious sailor who had not been at the
Naval Academy. AS a sequel to this we may
add that Commodore Biddle thence sailed to
Californis-just annexed-and, taking COM
mand by virtue of seniority, made terrible
havoc Gas the droll traditions of the navy
attest) among the sea-lawyers, commodore
governors, and Observation-Disclosures whom the
necessities of conquest had improvised Such
an instance of naval capacity for civil duty
proves nothing. 1t was Admiral Porter's
superb assertion that, as general
rule, navy-men are more capable than
first time dplomatists we dissented
from. Nor do the Veterans" in
stances of diplomatic incompetence shake
our faith. 1t will be seen that all of them
are of recent date-since 1861-and we in
cline so far to agree with him as to think that
South America was previously afflicted by the
Lincoln-Seward spawn of small-fry diploma
fists. Nay, we will admit, for the sake OF the
argument, that Admiral Dahlgren, who is one
of Veterans" great guns, was in every
sense better man, sea-sick or not, and
more capable officer than General Judson
Fitzpatrick or Hovey of Peru. Anterior to
the Republican reign, no such outrages were
committed, even on our ng-suffering Spa
nish- American neighbors. Our memory re-
calls, under different administrations,
such men as William Hunter and Raguet
and Wise and Schenck and Powsett and Cor
win and Randolph Clay, and, among the
latest under MIR. Buchanan's maligned ad-
ministratIon, that one of our Democratic
public men who, unlessw we err, is destined as
the initiator of a great political reform to
make his mark-Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsyl-
vania. Men like these (and the day of such
will come again before long), we reaffirm,
though serving for the first time, are more
trustworthy depesitaries of public trust
abroad and more competent to decide as to
what ought to be done even than meditative
students and successful letter-writers like
Admiral Porter.
Nor are we quite prepared to yield our
opinions as to the studious habits of the navy
in general, or the means they have of culti-
waiting them. That there is ''an allowance for
books" on every cruise is no doubt so. The
amount our correspondent does not state. Is
it always used; or is it not, like the ancient
spirit-ration, a matter which the commanding
officer may use or not at his pleasure? Our
own experience is of course not such as to
know of sixty-gun frigate, fitted
out at Philadelphia-city of literature
and at Norfolk-centre in ancient
days of marine boarding -houses-for cruise
of two years in the East Indies, whose whole
library consisted of Horsburg-the naviga-
tors bible-and Kent's Commentaries; and
naval friend to whom in our desperate igno-
rance, we applied for information on this
mooted point of library destitution, thus de-
scribes another long cruise in sloop- war,
then commanded by one of the choicest men
in our service-now dead-"There was, " he
writes, ''a library of perhaps three dozen
books on board the -, kept on shelves be-
tween the stern windows of the captains
cabin. / remember it because, during
the bombardment of the forts,
a shot struck us between those two win
dows, and made a tract agent of itself,
scattering the leaves all over the cabin. l
believe that was the only occasion on which
the books were removed from the shelves
during the cruise. Once in while, at a
drum head court-martial, the library would
be consulted in a saarch for authorities, of
which there were one or two. 1 remember
also McCulloch's Dictionary. There is an
allowance of some sort for books, but do
not think we had the money given to us to
purchase, but had to take the books on
hand at the yard Probably we should not
have had even them if our captain, who
was very wide-awake and bound to have
everything the ship was entitled to, and some
things that she was not, had not given his
personal attention to the matter. Altogether
l am confident we had more books than most
ships have, but there was no library on
board to invite study. Things may have
changed for the better since" If they have,
without wishing to prolong the discussion,
We shall be glad to be specifically informed on