The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-03-15
Hang the Hero.


al court martial the New York Sun
tries Admiral Scbley for his "repre-
hensible conduct" in finally locating
and subsequently assisting to destr' y
Cervera's squadron of powerful war;
ships, and summarily hangs him from
the yard arm of his own flagship, the
Brooklyn. If thertlwa any thing needed
to confirm people in their belief
that Schley ranks above Sampson in
the naval honors won off Santiago de
Cuba, it is the vituperatiye character
of the Suns review and denounce-
ment of the formers actions.
1t is easy, by dragging into the case
every impeding or detracting incident
or circumstance that happened, from
the time Cervera's ships were Gagged in
Santiago bay TO the day they were sent
to the oceans bottom, and piling all
these on to Schley, whether or not he
was directly responsible, or was sim
ply the victim of circumstances or the
creature of official obfuscation, to con-
denim the brave admiral His "sleg-
ed slow progress" from Cienfuegos to
Santiago, after he was ordered to that
port in quest of Cervera, is an illustra-
ton of the unreasonableness, the irony,
the frivolity of the "reprehensiblen
charges, in high official quarters, against
this gallant sailor.
There was no certainty that Cervera
was at Santiago. No one knew the
Spanish Admiral was in that port. He
was as elusive las the Irishman's flea.
Sampson was entirely at sea in the
matter. His letters and dispatches to
Schley show this. This man, in direct
connection with the shore and in con-
tact with the best sources of informa-
ton, was in doubt and uncertainty as
TO the movements of the Spanish
squadron. SO were the authorities at
Washington. Schley was sent out in
command of the Flying Squadron to
find the Spaniards. In this aggrega-
ton of flying" ships was the Eagle, a
vessel of very slow speed. The speed
of squadron cruising at sea is the
speed of its slowest ship. When
Schley started for Santiago to discover
if Cervera was really there, he regu-
lated his progress by the movement of
the Eagle, and is now blamed there
for, as if it were positively known that
Cervera was,at.Santiago, and Schley,by
dilatoriness, was imperilling the deten-
ton or capture of the dreaded fleet.
Now who placed this slow going tub
in "fying' squadron Who handi-
capped the greyhounds by the by the
presence of this turtle? Who was
guilty of the eprehensible" act of i'm
posing this drag upon the commanders
movements? The Eagle twas part of
the force which Admiral Sampson had
thought proper to send" Commodore
Schley, and he chad no right to aban-
don her without necessity not then
apparent" 1t is an affront TO Justice
and decency now to load upon Schley
any blame that may attach to Admiral
SIMPSONS act in putting thing with
clipped wings in flying" squadron.
Admiral Sampson and Secretary Long
are engaged in very "reprehensible"
business in thus seeking TO condemn
Schley, and there appears to be nothing
in all their Indictment of that officer
that is any more just or rational than is
this charge of "slow. progress toward
Santiago"
For years after General Grants
great and triumphant campaign to
Richmond, pounding Lees army to
pieces as he went, civilian and military
critics were pointing out the "mis-
takes" of the great commander, ex-
posing his strAtegetical errors and crit
icsing the general faultiness and
culpability of his generaship. After
Grant had taken Richmond, thing
many generals with magnificent armies
and unlimited resources had .disas-
trously failed TO do, post facto criticism,
developed in the bright light that
illumines the courses of difficult and
arduous achievement, became an easy
task. This crusade against Schley is
much of the same character. And the
truth of history will vindicate Schley.
Had Dewey been operating in Cuban
waters, who shall say that officialdom
would not have stigmatized as "repre-
hensible" in the extreme his famous
recess for breakfast in the battle of
Manila Bay, with the issue of the fight
in doubt?
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