The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-12-01
LINCOLN ON HAZEN.
iHs WAR SECRETARY APPEARS A
LITTLE "RlLED."
some Very Sharp Comments on Certain
Passages of the Chief Signal Officers
Report-ReGuested to Mind
His Own Business.

" WASHINGTON CITY, Dec. 1.-The secre-
tary Of war has given his report to the press.
lie deals in it very fully with the condition
Vi 'he ermy' which is generally good. The
most interesting part to the general public,
probably, is that which deals with Gen.
hazen, chief signal officer, who took occa-
sion to animaAvert in his annual
report upon the conduct of opera
Tons for the relief of the Greely
party. Secretary Lincoln says: 1.-THE secre-
tary OF war observes with regret that the
Chief signal officer has chosen to make, III his
annual report, formal expression of opinion
that, after the arrival of the wrecked Pro
teuS party on Sept 49, 1883, at st. Johns
there was still time 'as known from previous
experience and shown by subsequent facts,
to send efficient relief stating that Capt.
Melville and Others volunteered to so, givi..g
thelr full plans for the relief"
"A Contention as to what would have been
the probable result of an expedition to the
arctic regions started in the autumn, with
such preparation rs could he made after the
middle of September, is now useless for any
practical purpose, but a few words may
properly he given to the subject, as there
may be persons whose humane consideration
for the terrible situation Of Lieut.. Greedy
and his party existed for months may not be
accompanied by n knowledge Of the opinion
OF experienced persons as to the danger Of
| disaster and the little hope of success Of any
| attempt to approach him at that season.
| Secretary Lincoln then goes Oh TO detail
| the consultations and Investigations held pre-
vious to the sending of the relief party, deal
ing principally with the project of sending Il
relief party in the fall of 1883, and showing
: that such thing was impracticable for
many reasons. Nearly every experienced
arctic navigator who was consulted declared
I it no use at all and the others thoughtit very
hazardous and of doubtful use. The score
| tary continues:
1.-THE deplorable situation of the Greedy
party, then feared but since known to oxist,
did not lessen the perks which would have
heset any relief party started at the begin
ming of an arctic winter. The secretary OF
war knows of no one whose opinion would bs
considered, except the chief signal officer
who would not have regarded such an eX
petition not only as substantially hopeless,
for any relief earlier than was actually
given, but perilous i'll the extreme, if moi
foolharly
Nothing is more illustrative Of the impos
sbility of overcoming at all times the diff
culties of arctic travel, whether by land o
sea, than the fact that two-thiris Of Lieut.
Greelys party starved to death at Cap
Sabine. with 100 pounds of meat untouchei
at Cape Isabella, dStani about thirty miles
and with go rations untouched at Littletol
| island, at about the same distance, but SEP
! E,II 1yG 70 nj II y,rpha hlV
occurred to any one that the Greely part
could not easily reach and use both OF thes
! stores
. 40 some of the criticisms made by tn
I chief signal officer in his report no rrferenc
i seems TO be required beyond saying that tn
Proteus court of inquiry, so called, had I'll
: merit of basing its conclusions as to the O
n iicerS with whom it dealt dpon such informt
y | ton of facts and conditions as was attainab
l. by the officers themselves at the time {
% their action rs well us by the cour
II But the expression of the CHI
signal officer above referred to is q
intrusion OF an official opinion as to the pr
prety Of the course of the secretaries of wa
1t and of the navy in not hazarding more livl
ie in 1888 in a nearly hopeless adventure, upo
y his Geographic requests. This excursion in
y an official jurisdiction beyond his own al
: his dictum upon the exercise of suporit
1T responsibility which he was not invited
share ore extraordinary in their time al
'e place, and are hardly excusable evt
10 under whatever of irritation may have bee
N caused by the finding Of the Proteus court
~ inquiry Waving, however, that consider
II tion if thera had at the time been given mo
Ia weight to the view of that branch of t
'e public service, under whose fnanageme
=, there had been one futile and one disastro
"a expedition in the northern seas in two 81
III cessive years, than to the views of men ha
We ing experience in such matters, it is NJ
=" hardly to be doubted that we would ha
had last summer the news of two are
III calamities instead Of one"