Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-07-26
SLANDERINe SCHLEY.

There is q andalOuS cOnultioh Jueo
now extant in our navy. A person
whose name is Edgar s. Maclay, has
been writing naval history for the use
of the Naval Academy. He belongs to
that clique, or is aseryant of that clique
of naval officers, who have been ira
ducing the character of Admiral Schley,
with a view of despoiling him OF the
honor achieved over Cervera's fleet at
Santiago. The public does not know
the littleness and rottenness IN our
navy. The rottenness is past finding
out. but some Of the littleness Will be
seen when it becomes known that
history is compiled by two by four
clerk in one of the departments,
man of no standing, and no high order
of education, defamer of character.
and as the general public will now be-
lieye a hireling not to do legitimate
work, but hired to traduce and to lie.
This person who was not nearer the
naval engagement at Santiago than
We were, has undertaken to write q
history OF it. This history which Is
intended to be taught to all the young
naval cadets who enter Annapolis,
makes q hero OF Sampson. and liar,
q scrayan" and a coward" of Schley.
Schley actually started to run away
at the battle of Santiago, we are told,
and, says this historian. if Schley had
been in any other navy of the world
he would have been shot for his con-
duct there. The position at Santiago
was, according to this historian, Singh
lar. Sampson everybody knows, was
ten miles from the battle, Schley Was
present and in command. but cow
ardn and sscravan," afraid to fight.
and actually found to berunning away.
There then was our fleet without a
commander, or rather one who would
not engage the enemy, and the result
of the battle is due to the individual
CAPTAINS and men who must have
learned some way that Schley was a
coward, and without waiting for him
to command them, as they would have
done on any other occasion, rushed
madly at the enemy, without orders,
and by their Individual efforts crush
cd him. A beautiful story that. 1t
may be possible, however, that Samp-
son, when he went away that morn
ing, told all the Captains and men that
Schley was a coward, and that while
he, Sampson, was obliged under the
rule, to place Schley in command dur
ing his, Simpsons, absence, suill they
must not obey Schley, but do just what
they did do if Cervera came out. But
such a possibility is very remote.
When President Davis, who under
the Confederate constitution, was
commander in chief of the army and
navy, appeared as he did on the battle
field at Manassas, or Bull Run, as it
is called by some, just at the close OF
the battle, he might have with as much
propriety, claimed the authorship OF
the victory, as Sampson Claims the
Santiago naval victory. So with equal
force when Sheridan on very mem
orable occasion went to Washington
during his Valley campaign, and
while gone, Early fell on his command
at Cedar Greek and routed it, might
the route and defeat be charged to
hi m. No one has ever done so. So will
never the world, no matter how many
liars work on history. ever accord to
Sampson the credit of the Santiago
victory. This stab in the back by
Sampson and his crew, has greatly
awakened the public. Heretofore the
country was not appraised of the deep
and damnable effort made to defame
Schley, in the hope of apotheosising
Sampson. The public was willing to
let them have their spats, to let Samp-
son blow his horn in the magazines,
prove his negatives, turn white into
black, change the spots on the leopard
and the skin of the Ethiopian, but the
public knew what had happened, and
it smiled at the results Of SIMPSONS
frantic efforts.
The public knows that man can
not be absent and present at the same
time, and it further knows that while
a teacher may instruct his pupil just
how to amputate a leg. and if occasion
arises for an amputation, If the pupil
performs the operation when the
teacher is not present, the pupil must
receive the credit or discredit of it. 1t
further knows that absence is absence,
ten miles away is as much abs ence as
fifty, and fifty as an hundred. If,
therefore, the pupil performed the op-
Grafton successfully while the to acher
was down town, or up stairs asleep, or
away on his summer vacation, the re-
suit would be the same. The only
thing left therefore in such a case as
the Santiago affair to deprive the real
participant of the honor due him, is
to traduce him, make him out a cow
ard, cravan, a liar, traitor to coun
try. just as this man Macley has at
tempted to do. The story of Mordecai
and Hayman will be rewritten before
this controversy ends if we are not
mistaken. There should br a shaking
up some where, this business has gone
too far.
Maclay may be good accountant,
but If his account books are as false in
the entries as his history books, his
department will likely get into trouble