Waterbury Democrat., 1901-11-22
J. HAWTHORNE ON sCHLEY.

thoroughly recognized by the country,
 and does not need to be enlarged upon. The Dreyfus scandal, about which we
 were so much concerned, was not a
 tlthe so dlsgl aceful as tllis-for Drey- fus had not fought for his country and won victory at cruc4aI June ture of her career. The plot against Dreyfus of the French army ring was not a whit fouler than the plot of our
 own navy ring against Schley, and the l object of it, instead of being an ad-
 miral of long, blameless and distin- guished service, was 3 mere unknown Jew captain. The French ring was l cruel, corrupt and perjured, but the
 American ring, in addition to this, hes itated not to cast it's venom on one of
 the most eminent and honorable men l of the nation.
 This is now understood, agreed to and swallowed as best it may be. Whether the president will exert him. self to punish the scoundrels is not yet
 known, but it is, evident that no ade-
 Quate penalty can be inflicted on them.
 These injuries cannot. in the nature of things, be atoned for. One culprit shifts the blame to the next, and at any rate, there can be no cOmpensa- tion for the anguish wrought in q
 noble mind by the cowardly innuen- dos of slander. Possibly the ignoble tool who was set on to voice the spite of those far above him in station may find himself out of q job for q while, but he will be cared for somehow-for such tools have dangerous tongues Before long new matters of interest will come forward, and we shall forget about Schley and his yindication.
 Meanwhile. 1t appears that along with other things he has lost all the
 money that his career in the national service has enabled him to earn. It was pitiful sum, but it was all he had, and he has a family to think of.
 He is upwards of GO years old; he is on the retired list; lie has no way of
 making a livelihood. and he has no
 money. What is he to do?
 We are told that the conductors of numerous periodicals have written to
 him, asking him to contribute to their
 magazines or papers, and there is no doubt that i'll this way he might make 1 contracts which would easily reim-
 purse him for all he has lost. Were he to write a book an autobiography, as one of his fellow-officers recently did, there are many publishers who
 would pay him 50,0O0 for it, merely l as an advertisement for themselves. l But Schley is said to have declined ! these offers and he was right ill doing l so. For, though what he might write | would be interesting reading for itself, l it is plain that it's market value would l be determined, not on any literary ba- l sis, but solely on the ground that ] Schley had been accused of cowardice l in the face of the enemy, and had I been yfndicated. on the investigation
 Money would be paid him, not because
 he was a good writer or brave and
 efficient officer, but because he had be- | come notorious. e
 The money would make him rfch--if l $50,O00 can be called riches s-but he | would be rich at Athe expense of ex- I plotting his own misfortunes The 1 principle is the same as that which | prompts the brother of Czolgosz to
 make a contract with a dime museum. 1 Accordingly. Schley, being as it hap pens, a man of honor and gentleman without the hide of a rhinoceros, find. l himself unable to accept the publish CTS gratuities. One like General A1ger | may write book and So may q brave and lively fellow like Robley Evans, for in a case like Evans though his
 name helps the. sales still he is as well
 justified ill ayaiffng himself of that
 help as Mr Howells or Lord Roseherry
 is of his; but Schley's position is diff ferent.
 The same obstacle will stand in his
 way should he, for example, be f. fered the position of partner in some
 rich business firm. For, why did the firm offer him the position? Was it
 because of his ability? Surely not. He has never betrayed the possession of any ability of that kind. He does
 not belong to the mercantile class
 His genius is of quite another sort.
 Do they offer him the position be-
 cause he is Q retired admiral? Hardly. Had this investigation not occurred
 Schley would not have been likely to
 be approached by anybody with bus mess proposition.
 No; the occasion of the offer (snp- posing it to be made) would be that Schley had been investigated. and his IAuS UC-
 fore the public. Therefore his pres
 ence in the firm would draw to it pub lie attention. Schley cannot afford.
 on any such ground. to throw himself
 upon the market. The money that he
 would earn i'll that way would burn
 his fingers. He wants clean money General Grant. in the innocence of
 his heart. went into business: 1t was
 an ill-advised step. and he suffered for it the depth of humiliation; he was valuable to the firm because he was, General Grant. and for no other req
 son. Yet it was not ethicallv wrong for General Grant to accept the posi- tion. though it was iniudicious. and
 perhaps bad taste. But Schley $
 worth money (for the moment) not
 because. he is Scliley. but because
 Schley is notorious through his mis- fortunes, consequeftly he is debarred
 by the code of gentlemen.
 It appears sthen-not to prolonS these illustrations-tha Schley must live q pauper, not for any fault or CT
 TOT of his own, but solely because Le
 has been made the object of q base-
 less and dastardly attack by persons who harbored selfish and ignoble spite against him. These persons could not prove their case; they only
 succeeded in proving the opposite of Sfs 4I..xx II x-r-