The age-herald., 1901-11-06

nodore informed the department that he had been unable to obey orders, earnest ly as all have striven.
 If a subordinate informs us that ne Is unable to obey orders we do not charge him with disobedience. We may censure him for bad judgment" he con tinued, ''but for nothing more serious. Fault under such circumstances IS not always disobedience. I say that Com modore Schley never had orders. 1t was merely suggested as to what he should do. He was to find out if that squadron was there, and to see that 1t didn't leave without a decisive action. Even if true that the commodore committed gross errors of judgment, which l do not ad- init, but even if true, he had no motive but to do his whole duty as from the beginning he had always done it-no more, no less.
 Refers to sampson's Delay.
 Concluding his remarks for the day, Captain Parker said
 '"rhat brings us to a discussion for the so-called reconnaissance, which I think can be summoned up in very few words. We have had the information of all the gentlemen who were clothed with no re- sponsibility in the case. that they could, and they would etc. Well, perhaps they would, undoubtedly they could have gone In, one or the whole of them, and risked the ships, and been called fools for their pains. They might have come out suc- cessful, they might have done something to the Colon which was not done; they might have sunk her. 1 do not think that is in the least probable. There is one little incident about this matter. We are permitted to go up to the first of June and we see by the log of the Colon that she was there until 10:35. At o'clock in the morning the commander-in-chief Admiral Sampson, came there and the Colon was pointed out to him, and there she lay for four hours and a half with out a gun being fired at her. I am not finding fault with anybody for this"
 Of the run from Santiago to Cienfuegos Captain Parker said:
 q prefer to take what the officers wrote at the time rather than what they may say now"
 Regarding the weather at the time Captain Parker said:
 ''The court knows that weather is no consequence except that it produces a sea- There may not be even zephyr blowing and yet there may be a sea rolling that will make it dangerous for mile of each other.''
 Captain Parker claimed that in the passage from Cienfuegos to Santiago the speed of the slowest vessel of the squad ron must be that of the squadron. It would not have been the common sense idea of the situation, he said, to have abandoned the Eagle and the collier and make all speed for Santiago
 In the absence of information by the captains of the Yale and Minneapolis Captain Parker held that Admiral Schley had right to suppose that Captain Sigsbee had given all thesnformation he had from the scouts. Speaking of the information conveyed by Captain Sigs- bee Captain Parker said that officer was "curiously bljnd-not purposely blind, but curiously so. He not only had not been able to find out anything about the Colon but when she was there and in plain sight on May 25, a clear bright day, when Sigsbee was off ths harbor sketch ing, he had failed to see her. This is to me one of the mysteries of the cam paign."
 Continuing, he said that with the infor- nation given, Commodore Schley had acted wisely in turning back to Key West Whether he acted wisely and his judgment was sound is for you gentle men of the court to say-not with the information that has come since but with the light that the commader held at the time"
 Schley Not Instructed.
 Quoting from dispatch Captain Par ker read: "The departments informa- tion indicates that the Spanish division is still at Santiago"
 "Is there anything positive about that?" he asked. "If the department had chosen to say that the Spanish squadron is at Santiago that would have been another thing, but it did not say that. There were still some doubt apparent in the mind of the department on that subject"
 Referring at this point to the testi- mony of Sigsbee Captain Parker said the memory of four or five persons as to what Sigsbee said is better than that of Sigsbee I think the court can be sure that Capt. Sigsbee did say to Com modore Schley when he came aboard the Brooklyn that the Dons are not there "
 Again quoting from the dispatch Cap- tain Parker read "the President looks to you to ascertain the facts"
 Did not the Commodore ascertain the facts?'' he asked.
 And that the enemy therein does not leave without decisive action" he con tinued reading. Well, was there not decisive action?' he asked "The poor old Spanish admiral with his flags f1y- ing gaily at his masthead onf that Sun day morning and before 10 o'clock of that day he saw his ships on the beach of the bay burning, blown up and all destroyed He came on board the Ameri- can ship without shoes for his feet, or hat for his head. and a pair of drawers and an undershirt. Decisive actionl Was there anything that was more decisive than fhat9s