The age-herald., 1900-10-01
LIEUTENANT ROBSON
 AND HIS DETRACTORS
pm the Memphis Avalanche.

From the Memphis Avalanche.
 We notice that number of Northern pa- pers are assaling Lieutenant Hobson on account of an interview in which he is quoted as saying that the Spanish vessels sunk in Manila bay were not sunk by Dewey's guns, but by their own command CTS, who pulled out the plugs in their hulls and opened the valves, thus letting in the water It is also reported that the Navy Department officials are much incensed at Hobson, and may call upon him to answer for his words.
 So far there has been no confirmation of the interview, and it may turn out that Hobson has been misquoted. But assum- ing that he said what is attributed to him. it should be stated that he has had a bet ter opportunity than any one else to find out the facts in the case. In his capacity of naval constructor he was sent to Ma nila to superintend the work of raising the Spanish ships He was therefore able to determine by actual examination the cause of their sinking. If he found that their hulls below the water line had sustained no material injury from Dewey's shot and also found the valves open and the plugs removed, the conclusion that he Is said to have reached would be beyond question
 But even if he did make such conciu- sion public what he said could only de- tract somewhat from the praise bestowed upon the American gunners for the sup posed accuracy of their fire. It could not lessen the glory of Deweys achievement. The victory was complete. The Spanish vessels were put out of action by the American guns, and went down. They cer- tainly would not have met this fate had not the American fire been too hot to be endured, for all accounts agree that the Spanish acted with the greatest gallantry.
 It seldom happens, in fact, that all the ships of a beaten f1eeet that are destroy ed owe their destruction immediately to the enemy. In nearly every instance on or more of the vessels put out of action are burned or sunk by their own commanders, where the battle has taken place so near land as to give the crews chance to es- cape
 It was So in the battle of the Nile, at Trafalgar, at the Yalu river, in the Chino- Japanese war, and in nearly every naval engagement where the defeated side has suffered havily. w know that 1t was so at Santiago, for there the finest vessel of Ce- veras fleet, the Cristobol Colon, was fired and run ashore by the Spanish, after they had removed the plugs and opened the valves in her hull
 There is a suspicious readiness on the part of a certain portion of our press and certain officials of the Navy Department to make much of everything that can be turned to the disadvantage of Hobson. He was the hero of the most daring and pict- uresque exploit of the war, and for time the whole country was united in his praise. But just as soon as he had been placed In d rlulculouS p0SatlOn Dy the Silly Sent1men- tality of o; = women and his own youth full folly, his action at Santiago and his bright record aN officer prior to the war, seemed to fade from the memory of some of his professed admirers.
 They forgot the heroism of the officer but remembered the fault of the youth. From that time to this they have never mentioned him except to ridicue and decry him. His superiors in the service appar- ently have been influenced by this clamor, or by the jealousy of officers older than while rewards have been -lavished upon others, he has never received the promo tion due him, and which any foreign gov ernment would have made haste to confer upon an officer of his merit
 Now he comes home, after two years of arduous duty in the Far East, which he has performed faithfully and successfully, with his eyes so much injured that he may not be able to remain in the service all this to be greeted with new assaults by the press, and possibly to be subjected to humiliation at the hands of his superb in rank.
 We sometimes wonder If Hobson would have been treated thus if he had been a product of Northern State instead of a Southern State. We don't think he would l: is quite probable that there has been a feeling in some quarters that it would never do to allow Southerner to go down in song and story as the hero par ex- celence of the Spanish war. -