New-York tribune., 1901-11-24
THE NAVAL NTESTIGA1ION.
AFTER ALL THE TROUBLE CAUSED By AN
AUTHORS BUNGLING. THE OFFICERS
ARE STILL MEN TO BE PROUD OF.

Park Benjamin, in this weeks Independent
The revival of the so-called Sampson -Schley con-
considering its decision. was caused oy tns "
Edsar s. Maclay's History of the Navy. wherein
Rear admiral ehley was for Te
was regarded of importance was that MI. Mac.@s M a
gave commanding officers & OF the navy ta,sd in his
preface in the following words; o--. oo,,-,.nd-
ing officer concerned has read and corrected psSot
sheets dealing with actions in which each n hgureof Of
tcers Serving with Rear Admiral schIey in tfn the
Maclay's allegation amounted not only to direct c
designation of persons; but of persons wn9se
to the Charges a weight which they could equally
have derived from no other 1be court of inquiry
does not deal with Mr.. Maclays accusations; nor
Sesnfe s tbn fact that Several of the commanding
officers implicated by Mr. Maclay appeared as VIII,
pubic criticism of the officers OF the navy 1 for
6 to 6 esSmny nd and
entering into substantial conspiracy 70 a;ti1 crusn q
lowered morale in the naval personnel has been
argued. and Congressional Investigation aiming
My present purpose is show that for such
anv foundation whatever: that the officers of the
navy have not resorted to SANDER or calumhy, or
Maclay or anybody else: that specifically the com
manding officers, and Rear Admiral Sampson, MI IN
Maclay any justification for his charges, and that
occasioned by Mr. MacIay's book, rests on nothing
but an innocent blunder. pure and simple, made in
the use of the English language by Mr.. Maciay
proceed to tell how this has been demonstrated q.
that nearly all the commanding officers concerned
rected his proof sheets This would impcate most
of the captains present at the battle of Santiago
one who knew these gentlemen could read their
collected names without wholly disbelievins that
1t decided to investigate. Through personal
every officer involved. including the great ma
joritv of those of high rank, has now been OBJ
pudiated responsibility He is now folio :ed by
Rear Admiras Htggnson C9ton and TAI; TsyPr ite Gap
Clark, Cook and Lyon and Lieutenant Commander
Commanding officer Concerned" had read and cor
rected Macay's proof sheets has thus been utterly
The question once arises why Mr. Maclay
should ever have cited such authority No otye I've
could gain nothing and ne risked the preludee nee
most powerful support. The presumption is that
he had such intent. The alternative of error
Now: what is the fact which his statement
refers This is answered by his his own pages a1 All
by officers each identified by footnote showing
Admiral sampson to the author and so on
There are twenty-seven such Inscriptions. In seven
ing ohicer-in all of them he took part in the
e of hs thu ae sHs s
Hobson relates the Merrimac exploit. and on
dent IN which he figured. In case do nearly
all the officers co-acting in any one event unite
in describing it. Add to this the fact that in
every instance where officer has informed us
that he did read and correct Maclay's proof he
has expressly declared he neither nor
knew anything of other proof sheets than those
wherein his doings chronicled (the pages
relating to Schey we're never among these. and
the problem at unravels itself
Mr.. Mac!ay obviously endeavored to state the
nature of his first hand sources of Information
and this in accordance with what the pages of his
book actually showed to be the fact Unfortunately
he missed his aim. He said:
Nearly every commanding officer concerned has
reaO ana corrected PROOF sheets dealing with aC-
tions In which each figured
when what he meant to say was:
The proof sheets dealing with the several actions
have been read and corrected in nearly every in
stance by commanding officer who figured in the
action described"
And what a world of trouble. what a host of
recrimnations, animosities. reflections. slurs and
accusations would have been saved II only he had
done So d.
The allegations against Admiral Sampson there
fore stand contradicted- The accusations against
Admiral Schley made by Mr.. Maclay that
authors own personal opinion and not the au-
thority of the commander chief of the Ameri-
can fleet or that OF any OF his captains
This has nothing TO do with the issues now
Mr.. Macay from blame for his unguarded express
sions. although 1t does exonerate him from ap-
parent Misrepresentation 1t should end finally
the charge OF conspiracy. 1t certainly 10
always have been. loyal. honest and truthful gem
tlemen and not slanderers calumniatOrs. as
their enemies have sought to establish that there
IS no impairment in their morale" or degradation
acteriZed them.
deal Of trouble has followed Mr. MacIay's
misuse of his mother tongue; but perhaps ii has
OF our navy II worth something to learn
that. despite everything that has been said our
pride in il need have fall