The age-herald., 1901-07-26

! | ehC navy TUT nearly IOTLy-LWQ years,
 S9 and had passed through every grade
 rom midshiDman to commodore.
 Also. in April, 1seS when the war began, there had been published in two volumes a so-called History of the United States
 Navy" by Mir. Edgar Stanton Maclay.
 The title was 8 misnomer, for the book
 is not history of the navy in any proper sense of the term, but naval history of the United States. The author does not appear to have been a naval officer. nor to have received naval training; and, in
 fact, he frankly relies for technical as- sistance upon a naval lieutenant. He shows practically no knowledge of tho tradition, personnel and inner life of the
 service, and only the most meager infor-
 matiqn concerning the causes and influ-
 ences affecting its development and
 growth. He compiled, however, a narra-
 tive of it's battles and pfncipal voyages,
 extending up to the close of the civil war
 with a brief addition relative to the new
 navy. The book had no claim to be call
 ed literature, in which respect 1t differed from Fennimore Coopers History of the Navy" published in about 1889; but, as
 it covered period of over half a century following Cooper's time, 1t served pur-
 pose as a handy compendium of naval
 facts for present popular reference. Hav-
 ing besides the negative merit of being
 sufficiently colorless and didactic, it was
 thought adapted for use as text book l and thus despite the total absence of | sense of historical perspective or propor- ton which characterizes 1t, it became in- cluded in the curriculum of the second
 class of cadets at the United States naval | academy. This has given it certain prominence over other histories, covering
 similar field, and has led to the claim
 that it Is the standard officially
 history of the navy
 A third volume of this, work has just
 appeared, which out of It's total of 43O
 pages devotes some 400 to an account of the naval operations of the Spanish war. As nearly every combatant of note in that conflict fought his battle o'er again in the magazines, and as Journalists and trained writers galore have described 1t in books I of all sorts and sizes. it is not clear at | first sight why still another contempo- rary record was needed, for certainly il | seems that history could not be written | at this proximity to the actual events | and contemporary account complied al l second hand by a non-particfpant could
 hardly rival in interest the stories of the 1 living actors Based on "OfficIaI Reports"
 The author. however, thinks differently | TYa hoe b4s
 reports" says that nearly every com- | manding officer concerned has read and | corrected proof sheets dealing with ac- tions in which each fgured;" that this
 has delayed the volume flor twelve months; but the writer feels more than
 compensated for his failure to produce | a timely" work in the satisfaction of se- curing accuracy, and finally, desires to l emphasize the fact that this is pre-emI- nentiy a living history of the navy"
 It may fairly be considered that this I means that the author has endeavored to l bring to his task all the discrimination l Judicial calmness, sense of responsibility | and effort toward accuracy which is in- 1 cumbent on the historian who deals with | the reputation of other men for the in- l struction and enlightenment of posterity We, therefore, turn with interest to his presumably Impartial discussion of the l conduct of Rear Admiral Schley.
 As is well known. the principal oc- | currences in which that officer took part | and which form the main basis for dis l pute are three in number; first, his tenn | porary withdrawal from before Santiago 1 on account of the lack of coal; second, | his reconnaissance of the defenses and | Spanish ships in Santiago harbor; and, | third, the behavior of the Brooklyn dur | ing the battle notably in describing a loop before beginning her westward chase | of Cervera's ships. As Is also well 1 known, no charges have been filed against Rear Admiral Schley growing out l of these events, and not even an official | reprimand is of record against him. | He has been promoted to the grade of