The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-02-24
REPLIES TO CRITICISMS
FORWARDED THE SEN
ATE BY LONG.
The Officer Who Destroyed
Cervera's Fleet Off Santiago
Says That Work Tells its
Own Tale = Makes Clear
Many Points in the Chase
After Cervera Which Have
Been Clouded by His De-
tractors.

NEAR ~ uillTdl w =. SCnItA. Nav :
ing been granted permission to
answer the charges made against
him in the communication recent
ly sent to the Senate. to-day
handed to the Committee on Ma
val Affairs his statement, III
which he diSclaimS any purpose
of controversy with the Navy
Department. The letter of the
department. he says, so far as it
relates TO him. can be summarize
ed under the following heads:
The day off Cienfugos; the
slow progress towards Santiago
de Cuba from CienfugOs; the ret.
rograde movements on the Goth
and eth of May; the battle of
Santiago and the destruction of
Ceryera's feet"
The Admiral says his orders
from Sampson on May 10 were to
blockade Cienfuegos. which he
proceeded to do. He had no
knowledge that there were any
insurgents about CienfuegoS who
were friendly until the Marble
head arrived on the 9th. Even
had he had this knowledge OIL the
23rd of May the surf would have
prevented communication. On
his arrival he sent Commander
McCalla, of the Marblehead,
ashore to establish relations with
the insurgents, the result of which
was made known to him at $40 Of
May 81.
Then, for the first time. he
learned definitely. that the Span.
iSh was not at Cienfuegos. With.
i'll two hours he started for Santi-
ago. "What possible ground for
criticism" he says. "adverSe to
me there can be in all this | do not
see. was Oh the spot, acting
under orders which gave me en-
tire discretion and vet clothed me
with the responsibility of going
to Santiago only after | was sat.
iStied the fleet was not at Cieniu.
egoS."
He quotes from the dispatch of
Sampson of May 20. in which the
latter says Schley ''shOuld hold
his fleet off Cientuegos. If the
Spanish ships have put into San
tiago they must either come 70
Havana or CienfuegOs to deliver
the mnnitions of war which they
are said to bring for use in Cuba.
1t is my opinion that the
best chance TO capture these ships
will be to hold the two points, CT
entuegoS and Havana, with all
the forces we can muster, If later
it should develop that these yes
sells are at Santiago, we can then
assemble off that port, the ships
best suited for that purpose and
completely blockade it. Unless
we, then, receive more positive
information we shall continue
to hold CienfuegOs and Havana"
Admiral Schley adds: "This
letter is not printed either in the
or the executive docu-
ment G, but | received it on the
23rd, and it shows that | was ex
pected to hold my squadron off
Cienfuegos."
As to the slow progress to-
ward Santiago on account of the
Eagle, he states that she was
a part Of the force hich Admiral
Sampson had seen fit to send him,
and he had no right to abandon
her. The weather also was rough
and not much better speed could
have been kept up. He had been
ordered to proceed cautiously. If,
however, he had known that the
Spanish fleet was in Santiago no
consideration for the Eagle or
anything else, would have pre-.
vented him from getting there at
the earliest possible moment with
the large vessels, but the weather
and sea made it impossible to do
better than he did.
Speaking of the "retrograde
movement" which the Secretary,
adopting the language of Admi.
rail- Sampson, characterizes as
''reprehensible conduct.n Admi'
raj Schley says that in AZ years
service, R''never was such Ian.
guage used to characterize con.
duct of mine, and l see no rea-
son for it now"
Admiral Schley adds: "Acting
in accordance with my best judg.
ment in view of the circumstances.
without certain knowledge of the
whereabouts Ofthat Spanish feet;
after having been informed by
the scouts, commanded by such
men as Sigsbee, Jewell and Wise,
that although they had been of
Santiago for a week they had
seen nothing of it and knew
nothing of its movements, or its
whereabouts since it had left Gu.
racoa; after having been assured