The Portland daily press., 1899-03-07
MAKING IT HOT FoR scHLEY.
Secretary Long Out With Another
Letter.
Accuses the Naval Comm sndcr via
Attempting To Deceive Capt. sigs
bee Takes Hand.

Washington, March 9 The Senate COM
mitiee on naval affairs today made public
Secretary Longs second letter In the
5ampson-Schiey controversy, this COM
munication being In reply to Admiral
Schiey's letter. The first matter which
the secretary takes up, Is Admiral
Schley's mention OF Admiral Simpsons
letter of May 20, which, the secretary
says, seems to have given certain Senators
the impression that the department has
withheld that letter. On this point he
| says:
First-That this letter was not in the
possession OF tne department on February
6 nor was its existence known 10 tne de-
| partment at that time.
Second-1hat IL was In the possession
of Admira. Scnley until the ninth OF
February, wnen 1t was sent to the depart
ment upon Its request to be furnished
with ali official records relating TO his
duty as communicative chief OF the lying
squadron, aid as n flag officer In tbs
North Atlantic fleet.
Third-That In its instructions with
regard to maintaining the blockade Of
Cienfuegos, IL was not more explicit
than the letter ofAdmirnl Sampson OF
May ~, which accompanied the COM
uunication of the department of Febru-
airy and which Is published In the
appendix to tne report OF the bureau oil
navigation on page 46f.
Fourth-That on May 81, the day after
twas written, Admiral sam pson sent
orders to Commodore Schley in duplicate
by the Hawk and Marblehead, which
orders were received by Commodore
| Schley during early forenoon OF the l3t
and oath respectively directing Schley 10
proceed with all despatch, but cautiously.
to San .iago II satisfied that the spanish
squadron was not at Cfenfuegos Inc
set of >these orders sent by the Hawk was
received on the same day as the letter Of
4 the Goth and bearing the latter date, May
d 2lst OF course. revoked the instructions
i to blockade CleBfuegos, contained In the
Il letters of the 18th and 10th.
/ Fifth-That in obedience to these In
I structions this flying squadron left Glen
/ fuegos on the afternoon OF the s4th, but
i did not reach the immediate vicinity OF
the port of Santiago until the morning
of the 10th of May. The Secretary quotes
the Admiral's reference to the depart
ments order received by him on the 9th
of May directing him to positively asoer-
tain IL Cervera's fleet was in Santiago
narbor and not to allow him to leave
Santiago II found certainly to be true.
without decisive action" gives the Ad :.
miral's reply in full and says: 1t VIII
be- seen that Rear Admiral Schley's state
ment to the senate does not show that he
started to return to Key West and sig
nailed to the squadron to that effect and
so informed the department and 1t might
be inferred that he Immediately eyed
that rider AID ascertained the presence Oh
the enemy nt santiago.
On the contrary his telegram above
dated May 2S, ana written May "a, shows
that, though having Just received the
telegram uf the department and having
on hand d sufficient supply OF coal on
| har stat
that he could not obey the order and con.
tinued to proceed to Key West. However.
it later became evident TO him that IL was
unnecessary and the resumed the move
ment toward Santiago" Another point
in Admiral Scnley's letter Is touched
upon In the following manner: ADM
raj Schley's mention Of he signal by Ad-
miral Sampson at s 10 a. M. July g.
disregard movement. of the com msnder-
in-chief," and his mention OF the move
ment of the commander-in-chlef toward
Siboney, is followed by an incorrect In
ference as followst
"This left me senior officer present and
necessarily clothed with the responsible
ties Of command.
The signal above men toned is one
which Is frequently made in squadron
and is never held as In any sense relin-
quishment Of command
Annexed to the letter from the secre-
tary is one from Capt. SiRsbee In reply
to Admiral Sohley's reference to himself
as commander Of the scout steamer ST
Paul, quoting him as authority for the
opinion that Cevera's fleet was not In
Santiago harpor. On this poiut Siasbee
says: what l actually said to the ad .
miral was that Pilot Nuaez first expressed
the belief that su"h large vessels ~ Cerv-
sra's cruisers could not get into SANTA
90 harbor because Of their length. but
he after ward admitted that they might
get In with the aid of tugs. Every OFF,
Ger on board the ST. Paul knew that
believed Cevera to be at Santiago; never
the!ess considered Nunez's opinion"
With reference to the statement that
he had confirmed the difficulty of coaling
off Santiago. Capt. Siesbse says:
There had been weather unfavorAble
for ooalipg, but l remember no statement
Of mine relative to coa1ing. made to the
admiral, except on the morning when we
Jointly discovered the Spanish vessels.
The commanding officers were assembled
on board the brooklyn. On that occa-
sion | twice informed the admiral that
the weather was unusually favora BILE for
coaling at sea and l recommended that
advantage be taken of IL on the ground
that SO good an opportunity could not
be expected often. At the same time
expressed the belief that Guam Ia namo
bay should be seized as "a base, not nec-
essarily by Admiral Sohley, but as soon
as troops were available to hold the
place"