Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-07-31
Maclayis Roasted
Park Benjamin.

Schley du ing ~ gears of honorable
service has ,tsai'iy ad,s;,c.d to the
highest III ~, 1pn,ta i"n Ia tue
naval officer in the regular ooarac Of
his profession.
THE ASSAULT ON SCdiEY.
Nevertheless in this History of the
United States Navy" the following
statements regarding him are made:
AS to the temporary withdrawal
from before Santiago:
In his report about the coal supply
of the vessels under his command
Schley exhibited either q timidity
amounting to absolute cowardice or a
prevarication of facts that were in
trinsically falsehoods.
= Schley 80 turned in
caitiff fight from the danger spot to-
ward which duty, honor and the
whole American people were most
earnestly urging him. Viewed in
whatever light it may be, the forego-
ing dispatch cannot be characterized
otherwise than as being without ex-
ception the most humiliating, coward
ly and lamentable report ever penned
by an American naval officer.
AS to the reconnaissance at Santiago:
This timid and nerveless attack on
Cervera's ships is the more disap-
pointing when we remember the elab-
crate and brave preparations Schley
had made to "get at the enemy" in
earnest Schley's farcial
blockade cannot be described other
wise than as willful disobedience of
orders.
AS to the loop" of the Brooklyn:
Schley hastily ordered the helm
aport. /" but that will carry
us into the Texas" said the officer,
Let the Texas take care of herself"
was the heartless reply, and the
5hamful spectacle of an American
warship, supported by force super
ior to the enemy's--a warship whose
commander had expended such vast
quantities of ammunition on target
practice in the presence of fash
,onable hotel at Hampton Roads in
order to meet worthy foe-deliber
ately turning tail and running away,
was presented Cervera nobly
threw down the gauntlet. Schley
cravenly declined to pick it up.
Commentru upon such language as
this, and there is much more of 1t, is
needless. Hard as it is to conceive,
nevertheless it may be that after all
these years of service an admiral of
the United States navy, suddenly per-
petrated military crimes of the gray
est sort; but until this is established
by the verdict of a competent trib-
unal, common fairness and decency,
if not patriotism, should have pre-
vented the use of such terms. OF
course, this ends the utility of Mr.
Maclay's book as history, since it
destroys all dependence upon the dis
elimination, judicial poise and impair
tiality of the author.
But the shortcomings of the work
itself are of little moment us COM
pared with the graver questions which
this extraordinary outgiving must ar.
)use. Ihe statement in the preface is
that NEARLY every commanding off,
Ger concerned has read and corrected
proof sheets dealing with actions in
which each figured" These men
were participants in the several
vents with Schley, ana also his SUBJ
o. dinates, 1t is inG0nc 2inlble that
they haG fully weigltd the consr-
luences OF so doing, and certainly
lot unless they had GetarIn.Ici to
present these charges in official form
for the action of the Navy Depart
ment Nor indeed is it imagi liable
that the author himself would have
placed these officers in the position
he has, unless he had from them am
pie assurance that they would sustain
him in the most effective manner.
AS mattersnow stands the command
ing officers who have read and ap-
proved on proof sheet the charges
made in this book, should be called
upon to present them for action, il
they do not speedily do so of their
own notion.