The record-union., 1899-06-02

been suddenly converted from ensin-
GERS, paymasters and doctors into Rear
Admirals. OF course, as we have no
full Admiral but Dewey, his blue flag
always remains; and even If we should
create another Admiral the latter would
be Junior to Dewey, so that the flagship
of the, victor of Manila Eneed never
have a red four-starred flag in her sig
nal locker. >
ENGLISH ADMfRALs.
l. I suppose, however, that my querist
really meant to ask whether Admiral
Dewey would have to yield precedence
to any other naval officer af:oat. So
far as / am aware, there is no one to
rank him in any foreign navy Except
tfat OF England, and there he is over
whelmed. In fact, an Admiral in the
british navy is at present the third
grade down the ladder. Why, there
are British Admirals so lofty that or
binary terms of respect concerning
| them give out, and there Is nothing to
be done but to take refuge in express
siors of awe!
To begin with, there are two honorary
Admirals of the feet, to wit:
His Royal Hfghness Albert Edward,
Prince of Wales, K.G., KIT, G.C.B,
KIP, G.C.S.I, G.C.M.G., G.CI.E.. &C
V.O., and His MAJESTY William H., Ger
man Emperor, etc.
Then comes the following imposing
array Of five Admirals Of the fleet,
namely, the Honorable Sir Henry Kep-
pei, Sir John E. Commerell, H. r. H.
Alfred Ernest Albert, reigning Duke OF
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (the Duke of Edin-
burgh), the Right Honorable Richard
James, Earl of Clanwilliam, Sir Alger-
non Mel. Lyons and Sir Frederick
William Richards. All of these officers
outrank Dewey. Then come nine Ad-
mirals, beginning with Sir NOVEL; Sal
mon, alde-de- camp to the Queen; Sir
Michael Culme Seymour, now Comman-
der in Chief at Portsmouth; the Hon.
Sir Edward r. Fremantle, occupy ing
the similar position at Plymouth. and
Sir John o. Hopkins, who commanded
the English squadron at the Columbus
celebration as a. Vice Admiral, but who
nov is the Admiral commanding her
| majesty's Mediterranean station. Be-
i SIDES these are Adnlirals Fairfax, Lr-
skine, Butler. Jones, Adeane and Ira
| cey, and to- every one of them Dewey is
junior. So. that when it comes to COM
Pc ring the rank of our solitary Admiral
with that of the numerous British sea
| dignitaries above mentioned the occa-
sion is obviously not one to invoke
screams Of conscious superiority from
the American eagle under the SUPPOSE
ticn that he alone occupies the top rail
! OF the fence. He does not-he perches
much lower down.
Even an Honorary Admiral Of the
Fleet" does not denote the apex of
British naval altitude. The office of
| Lord High Admiral-last filled by Will
| lam w, who resigned it in 1S2S-is
only in commission (the Board of Ad-
miralty) and may be made personal at
any time. It was supposed some years
ago that the Duke of Edinburgh would
be appointed to it, and lately there has
been talk about giving it to Prince
George of Wales, who is a Captain in
the royal navy; but Great Britain is
rather more sensitive about the eff
cheney of her fleet than she used to be,
and commanders of the gilded figure
head type, whether in high Office or
| low, are not so much venerated as they
| once were.
| THE QUESTION OF INCOME.
We are going to give Admiral Dewey
about as much Of an income as a fairly
good lawyer or doctor in city makes
and nothing to be compared with the
revenues Of the men who in other pro-
fessions hold a place in anywise cor
responding to his. 1t is supposed now
to be S14, 500 per annum, but the naval
officers are quite in the dark as to
what their pay is under the personnel
bill. and at present they are In a state.
as one expressed it, Of don't know,
but hope" At all events, Dewey does
not get as much as a British Admiral
on corresponding foreign service, for
the emoluments of that officer amount
to ST. ,3335 a year, and, of course, he
cannot aspire to equality with an "Ad-
miral of the Fleet" who pockets nearly
$40, 900.
1t may be asked what an An erican
Admiral has to do with these IT amen-
dous "swells of the ocean," and perhaps
We shall yet hear Of patriotic orators
fiercely demanding why he should ever
demean himself to any web-footed ser
want of an effete monarchy and so on.
He does not demean himself in any in
vidious sense. In the way of business
he would as cheerfully sink an Admiral
of the fleet or blow up Lord High Ad-
miral as anybody else; but between the
naval officers of civilized navies the
rules of official courtesy are rigidly OBJ
served-and by virtue of these the
junior or inferior officer of one nation
ality pays the same difference to a
senior or superior officer Of another ma
/ fiOn4litV q n n
That is why the Captain of the Ger
man cruiser Fake obeyed Admiral
Kautz's order not to leave the harbor
of Samoa after the recent trouble. Oh
course, it Is an unusual thing for an
order of this sort to be made, and ordi-
narily it is never necessary. At the
same time the omission Of conventional
acts Of courtesy Is often regarded as OF
serious significance, as witness the be-
havior Of the German Admiral Won
Diederichs at Manila, followed by the
sharp inquiry from Dewey of whether
! he wanted to fight, and the informal ior
that if he did he could have it right
then and there.
+ THE ETIQUETTE OF CALLS.
If Admiral Deweys fleet should join
that of Admiral Sir John Hopkins
Dewey would fire a salute to Hopkins
and Hopkins would return it. Dewey
would make the first official call, which
Hopkins would return. If the f1agships
We're under way, Dewey would not pass
ahead Of Hopkins. Dewey would fol.
low Hopkins lead in the time of hoist
ing colors in the morning and lowering
them at night, but on the Fourth OF