Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-02

marine should be abolished or turned over
to the army.
"In its organization it should be naval al
together. ship without marines Is no
THE past efficiency Of our marin. corps
fills one of the brightest pages in the his
tory Of our country. and the man who pro-
poses such measure cannot know much
about the service or Is demented.
when they take away the marines from
the navy they had better lay up all large
vessels.
II wish any one could see the difference
pie they call soldiers; they would not talk
Of abolishing the corps. I can only say,
God forbid 1t should come to pass"
Another Letter From Porter.
Some stress has been laid by opponents Of
the corps on the structures Admiral Porter
made upon the conduct of the marines at
the attack on Fort Fisher. 1t will be seen
from the following letter. of Admiral Por-
ter that their fault was that they were too
anxious to lead the attack before all others
1t Is a complete reply to the structures al
luded to. 1t was written on the flagship
Malvern Of the North Atlantic squadron;
cape Fear river, February f. 1885, and is
In full as follows:
MY Dear Slack-I received your kind let
ter OF the 23d ult., and thank you for your
congratula tons. i assure you that attach
no Importance to the silly articles that ap-
peared in some Philadelphia papers, though
L was sorry to see 1t on account of the
corps which might be supposed, from what
the writer says, to entertain the same SEN
timents. do not think it was written by
an officer, though may be mistaken. My
sentiments toward the Marine Corps are
too Wen known for any one TO accuse me Of
maligning 1t. What I said l should have
said OF the sailors or naval officers, which
believe you will find in my special report of
officers. 1 have done full justice to Daw-
son, wallace, etc. who were ali in the front,
and, indeed. were so eager for distinction
mat am AFRAID they pushed ahead with
out looking to see whether the marines
were coming up. Now, that is all very well
to push ahead. but the officers should al
ways stay with their men, who are mere
machines, after all, and want to be told
what to do. Officers should never look for
personal distinction at the risk of destroy
ing combination that would likely prove
successful. Marines are just as good as
any other men (and should be better) and
Will no doubt so anywhere they are told to.
Il must confess that was a hot place
they were going into: still it would have
been great event to have 1t said that the
plan was a good one, and 1 am grieved
that 1t was not carried out. Our assault
unsuccessful as 1t was) was the cause Of
our triumph after ALL The rebels had coll
lected their strongest force there, and
while pouring all their fire into our men
they were taken in the rear by our SOL
diers, so 1t all turned out right.
The first chance I get / am going to
put the marines at it again and you will
see that they will make up for their last
affair. 1t requires a little practice to learn
how to assault, especially such place as
Fort Fisher which is the strongest place
l ever saw.
Rest assured that my feelings toward
the Marine Corps are not changed by this
little matter. 1 have too many friends
among them to be anything but their
friend. Your sincere friend,
DAVID D. PORTER"
A Specimen Letter.
Scores of other letters from naval Off
GERS, voicing sentiments similar to those
expressed by Admiral Porter, were writ
ten to Major Slack when the movement in
1S62-63 to turn the corps over to the army
and abolish it as a naval organization was
made, and the following, written by Com
modore Foxhall A. Parker January H.
1863, is a good sample of ALL
My Dear Slack: Nothing could be more
detrimental to the interests of the public
service in my Judgment, than the abolish
ing of the Marine Corps as a naval organi-
cation, and turning it over to the army.
God forbid that unwise legisla ton should
ever deprive the navy of that corps which
forms SO essential part of it-whose gal
lantry is proverbial Very truly yours,
"FOXHALL A. PARKER"
The present war promises to give the
corps many more opportunities to prove
anew its rare value to the government.