Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-09
WELCOMING THE ADMIRAL.
Other Nations May Take Part In
Dewey's Home Coming.

Park Benjamin In the Independent.
The victory at Manila is now recognized
as one of the greatest feats ever accom-
plished in naval warfare. There Is no
achievement of Nelson which ecllpses 1t in
brilliancy, and it excels In audacity and
courage even Farragut's splendid accom-
pIishment at Mobile. 1t seems fitting,
therefore, that when Admiral Dewey is first
greeted h, should be welcomed, not merely
as a citizen of the republic whom all his
fellow citizens are anxious and delighted to
honor, but distinctly as a naval hero, and
first of all by those of his countrymen
whose naval achievements are outdons only
by his own.
to permit a returning admiral to come back
in his flagship 1t is now understood that
Admiral Dewey will make his home voyage
in the Olympia, which bore his flag during
the great battle. For him to return by way
of the Pacific would be simply an ordinary
sea journey, supplemented afterward by
triumphal progress across the country. But
should he return by way of the Suez canal
and thu Mediterranean, his triumphal pro-
gress would extend around half of the
world, for all the great naval powers
through whose waters he might pass would
vie with one another in rendering him
honor If therefore, his countrymen desire
that he should receive the greatest ovation
which can be given him. their preference
should be that he come to US from the east
and not from the west
Should this be the event, IT is well now to
suggest that the most fitting and graceful
welcome which can be given him, and one
which he himself would appreciate more
than any other, would be to send the entire
North Atlantic squadron to meet the Olym-
pia at Gibraltar, and then under his com
mand, as 1t, Of course, would at once be
come, to steam back with him across the
Atlantic. Such a great maratlme triumph
Il
are enough of our finest war vessels now
upon the Atlantic coast to make the feet
an imposing one, and worthy of the dignity
of the occasion.
Moreover, it probably would not be nee
eSSary for the American ambassador even
to intimate to England that If she should
see fit to supplement our welcoming feet
with some of her own magnificent vessels
the American people would regard that act
as one of the highest interna tional courte-
sizes. England has already done this twice
for an American admiral She sent her
great channel squadron to escort Admiral
Farragut out of Lisbon in 1867, and prob
ably no more splendid naval sight was ever
with essed than the passing of her iron
clads under full sail before the American
flagship, with their bands playing our ma
tional anthem, their crews cheering in the
rigging and their guns laundering out the
admirafs salute. She did it again at Malta
when her Mediterranean squadron, in the
midst of living gale, escorted the Frank
lin to sea. And that was directly after the
close of the civil war, when we had many
a serious question with Great Britain still un-
adjusted If she could render to our ad-
mirals such honors then, what might she
do now when the feeling of amity and kin
ship between the two peoples was never
stronger? Is it too much to imagine that
over the war fleet following the Olympia
across the ocean may float as symbols of
Anglo-SaxOn brotherhood and lasting peace
both the stars and stripes and the red cross
of st. George?