Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-10-04
health and spirits. I am assisting and
protecting Spanish sick and wounded.
(Signed) DEWEY"
Washington, May Z, 1898.

health and spirits. l am assisting and
protecting Spanish sick and wounded.
(Signed) DEWEY"
Washington, May Z, 1898.
Dewey:
"The President in the name of the
American people, thanks you and your
officers and men for your splendid
achievement and overwhelming vic
tory. In recognition, he has appointed
you Acting Rear Admiral, and will rec
ommend a vote of thanks to you by
Congress as a foundation for further
promotion"
In those few words, what a volume
of history; what a record of swift,
high, heroic discharge of duty; you
went; you Saw; you conquered. 1t
seems but yesterday that the Republic,
full of anxiety, strained its listening
ear to catch the first word from those
distant islands on the sea. 1t came
flashing over the wires that May morn
ing, as the sun bursts through the
clouds and filled every heart with the
illumination of its good cheer. In the
twinkling of an eye, your name was on
every lip; the blessings of every Ameri-
can was on your head, and your
try strobe instantly forward a might
Ter power among the nations Of the
world. AS we welcome you back
there comes back also the vivid pic
ture of that time, with all its hopes and
fears, and with all its swift succeeding
triumph and glory.
Let me now read the Act of Con-
gress in pursuance of which we are
here.
Resolved by the Senate and House
OF Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assem-
bled, that the Secretary Of the Navy
be and he hereby is authorized to pre-
sent a sword of honor to Commodore
George Dewey, and to cause to be
struck bronze medals, concentrating
the battle of Manila Bay, and to dis
tribute such medals to the officers and
men of the ships of the Asiatic squad
ron Of the United States under COM
mand of Commodore George Dewey,
on May 1st, 1898, and that, to enable
the Secretary to carry out this resolu-
ton, the sur of ten thousand dollars
or SO much thereof rs may be neces-
sary, is hereby appropriated out of
any money in the treasury not other
wise appropriated.
Approved, June 3, 1885,"
II was by this solemn enactment,
| approved by the President, that the
people of the United States made pro-
vision for putting in material form
one expression of the appreciation of
your valor as an officer Of their navy,
and of your great achievement as
their representative in opening the
door to a new era in the civilization
of the world. The victory at Manila
Bay gave you rank with the most dis
tinguished naval heroes of all times.
Nor was your merit most in the brill
liant victory which you achieved in a
battle fought with the utmost gallant
ry and skill, waged without error, and
crowned with overwhelming success.
1t was still more in the nerve with
which you sailed from Hong Kong to
Manila harbor; in the spirit of your
conception of attack; in your high
commanding confidence as a leader
who had weighed every fisk and pre-
pared for every emergency, and who
also had that unfaltering determin-
alton to win. and that utter freedom
from the thought or possibility of
swerving from his purpose, which are
the very assurance of victory. No
captain ever faced a more crucial test
than when that morning, bearing the
fate and the honor of your country
in your hand, thousands of miles from
home, with every foreign port in the
world shut to you, nothing between
you and humiliation but the thin
sheathing of your shiDs, your cannon
a11 yo,I. dnuOtcJ nfEoorc onA mon
you moved upon the enemy's batteries
on shore and on sea with unfiinching
faith and nerve, and, before the sun
was half way up in the heavens. had
silenced the guns of the foe, sunk. the
hostile feet, demonstrated the suprem-
acy of the American sea-power, and
transferred to the United States an
empire of the islands of the Pacific.
Later, by your display of large pow
ers of administration, by your poise
and prudence, and by your great dis
erection, not only in act, but also in
word which is almost more import
ant, you proved yourself a great rep
resentative citizen of the United
States, as well as now its great naval
hero. The lustre of the American
navy was gloriously bright before,
and you have added to it a new lustre.
It's constellation of stars was glorious
before, and you have added to it an
other star of the first magnitude. And
| yet. many of your grateful countrymen
feel that, in the time to come, it may
be your still greater honor that you
struck the first blow. under the prov
idence of God in the enfranchisement
c. those beautiful islands which make
the great empire of the sea; in re-
lieving them from the bondage and
oppression of centuries, and in put
ting them on their way, under the pro-
tecting shield of your country's guild
ance, to take their place in the ciyili-
cation, the arts, the industries, the lib
critics and all the good things of the
most enlightened and happy nations
of the world, so that generations
hence your name shall be to them a
household word, enshrined in their
history and in their hearts. Clouds
and darkness may linger about them
now, but the shining outcome is as
sure as the rising of the sun. What
ever the passing tTibulatiOns and diff
fculties of the present moment, they
will in due time, Don and surely give
way to the dawn of a glorious new
day-a day not Of any mere selfish
imperial dominion of one people over
another. but of the imperial moral
and physical growth and expansion
of all the peoples, whatever their race
- IL, --A- hn-1 ol--1