New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-14

Wales. KG.. KIT. G.CB.. KIP. G.C.SI
G.C.M.G.. G.CIE.. GC.VO., and His Majesty
William H. German Emperor etc.
Then comes the following imposing array Of
five admirals OF the fleet, namely, the Honorable
Sir Henry Keppel. Sir John f. Commerell. H. K
H. Alfred Ernest Albert, reigning Duke of SAKE
Coburg- Gotha (the Duke Of Edinburgh, the
Right Honorable Richard James. Earl OF Clan
william Sir Algernon Mel. Lyons and Sir Fred
erick William Richards. All OF these officers
outrank Dewey. Then come nine admrals be-
ginning with Sir NOVEL; Salmon. aide-de-camp
to the Queen; Sir Michael Cume Seymour, now
commander in chief at Portsmouth: the Hon.
Sir Edward II. Fremantle occupying the SINH
lar position at Plymouth. and Sir John o. Hop
kins. who commanded the English squadron at
the Columbus celebration as vice admiral, but
who is the admiral commanding Her Ma
jestys Mediterranean station. Besides these are
Admirals Fairfax. Erskine, Butler, Jones,
Adeane and Tracey, and to every one of them
Dewey is junior. SO that when 1t comes to com
pairing the rank OF our solitary admiral with
that of the numerous British sea dignitaries
above mentioned the occasion Is obviously not
one to invoke screams Of conscious superiority
from the American eagle under the suppositon
that he alone occupies the top rail or 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 alti-
tude. The office of Lord High Admiral-last
filled by William ". who resigned it in ISIS
is only in commission (the Board Of Admiralty
and may be made personal at any time. 1t was
supposed some years ago that the Duke OF
there has been talk about giving it to Prince
George OF Wales, who is captain in the royal
navy; but Great Britain is rather more sensi-
tive about the efficiency Of her fleet than she
used to be. and commanders Of the gilded
fgurehead type. whether in high office 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 a fairly good lawyer
or doctor in a city make5-and nothing TO be
compared with the revenues of the men who
in other professions hold a place in anyWise
corresponding to his. 1t is supposed now to be
$1,000 per annum. but the naval officers are
quite in the dark as to what then pay is under
the Personnel bill. and at present they are in
state, one expressed it, OF don't know. but
hope" At all events Dewey does lot get :
much British admiral corresponding for
eign service. for the emoluments of that officer
amount to S1I,335 year and of course. he
cannot aspire to equality with an Admiral of
the Fleet" who POCKETS nearly $4,000.
1t may be asked what American Admiral
has to do with these tremendous "swells Of the
ocean" and perhaps we shall yet hear of pa
triotic orators iercey demanding why he should
ever demean himself to any web-foOtcd ser
want Of an effete monarchy and so on He
does not demean himself in any invdous
sense. In the way of business he would as
cheerfully sink an admiral of the fleet or blow
up lord high admiral anybody else: but be-
tween the naval officers of civilized navies the
rules of official courtesy rigdy observed
officer Of one nationality pays the same defer
ence TO a senior or superior officer OF another
nationality as he does to of his own That
is why the captain of the German cruiser
Fake obeyed Admiral KautZs order to
leave the harbOr of Samoa after the recent
trouble. OF course. it is unusual thing for
an order of this sort to be made and ordinarily
it is never necessary. At the same time the
often regarded as of serious significance, as
witness the behavior Of the German Admiral
Won Diederichs at Manila followed by the sharp
inquiry from Dewey of whether he wanted to
fight and the information that If he did he
could have it right then and there.
THE ETIQUETTE OF CALLS.
II Admiral Deweys fleet should join that of
Admiral Sir John Hopkins Dewey would fire
salute to Hopkins, and Hopkins would return
it, Dewey would make the first official call
which Hopkins would return. If the nagships
were under way. Dewey would not pass ahead
OF Hopkins. Dewey would follow Hopkns's
lead in the time Of hosting colors in the morn
ing and lowering them at night. but on the
Fourth OF July or any Of our National holidays
hopkins. regardless of his superior rank would
follow Dewey in dressing ship and in hosting
and lowering the ensign. If the two officers
were about To go from ship into the same
boat-a rather remote pOssibility-Dewey would
go down the gangway first but on leaving the
boat TO go aboard ship Hopkins would first go
up the side ladder. In event of its being neces-
sary for the two fleets to act together Hop
Kins would take command. although he might
put his orders to Dewey in the form of re-
quests or even suggestions That is about as
FAR as courtesy goes OF course Dewey would
not ask Hopkns's permission to go or come or
perform any evolution he saw fit
AT the present time Dewey is performing
much the same duty as he did as a commodore
He has larger fleet Observation-Disclosures
ships in all, including the famous Oregon-and
that fact IN itself would have involved an Off
Ger OF higher rank than commodore being
placed in command of it,