Arizona daily citizen., 1901-11-13
REAR ADMIRAL SChLEY.

nounces that the members of the
Schley court of inquiry, Admiral
Dewey and Rear-Admirals Benham
and Ramsey. have gone into secret
session to consider the evidence
brought out in the trial. and that not
a word regarding their proceedings Is
to be given to the public until their YER
diet Is finally submitted to the Secre
tary of the Navy.
This is the last chapter in what will
always be regarded as scarlet infamy
in the history OF the United States
Navy For weeks the American peo-
pie, with constantly increasing and
with constantly deepening Indignation,
read the developments in what is
clearly a deliberate plot to assassinate
the character of an American sailor
who. throughout more than two score
years OF his life. has served and hon
ored his country.
There are thoughts that do often lie
too deep for utterance, and it is i'm
possible adequately to express the feel
ings. deeprooted and a biding with which
the American people contemplate the
spirit OF unrelenting vindictiveness
with which Schley has been both
prosecuted and prosecuted by con
temptible naval cabal from the moment
when on the morning of July 3, 1898.
during the absence of Rear Admiral
Sampson. he attacked and destroyed
Cervera's feet in the battle OF San
tiago. There has been scarcely day
since that glorious victory was won
when Admiral Schley's detractors. in
famed with jealousy and gangrened
with envy, have not sought to drag
down into the dust the name of this
splendid American and to make II
ruin and a shame in the eyes of every
beholder. 1t Is perfectly clear that every
expedient which a mendacIous press
could inventand every scheme which an
intriguing naval clique could devise
have been used to accomplish this de-
termined purpose of Rear-Admiral
Schley's enemies; and it may now be
said that every one OF these schemes
and every one of these expedients have
been used in vain.
Winfield Scott Schley. in the iudg-
ment of the American people, Is the
hero of Santigao, and in the judgment
of the American people, hero more
modest, more just, more faithful in the
performance of duty, more generous In
temper, more magnanimous in con-
duct or more valiant in action never
wore the uniform of the United States
Navy. Throughout the period of time
to which he has been made the target
of constituencies criticism-when the
poisoned arrows OF envy hatred and
malice have been aimed at his heart
he has borne himself with the quiet
dignity and Christian charity of an
American gentleman.
With the consciousness of duty we'll
done he has bided his time, confident
that right and truth would prevail
against the power of mendaclty and
calumny. What Admiral Schley has
done for his country Is much, what
he has been. and what he still is, to
his countrymen Is even more. In the
domain of achievement he has shed
honor upon the nation: in the realm
OF character he has won Victories
more enduring even than the fame of
Santiago. Every time his enemies have
struck at him he has answered the
complaint with some new service to
his country. and with larger and more
magnanimous consideration for his ad-
Versaries. He has shown the world
that he Is "supremely Indifferent to
the flies that may light about his
horns" He has illustrated the truth
that dignity, high conduct and super
iority to the base methods of mean
men are invincible with the American
people. He that ruleth his own spirit
ia mightier than he that taketh
city" The beauty of Admiral Schley's
character Is that he can do both.
In contemplating what schley is
and what he has done the lines of
Lowell, written of Washington:
Virginia gave us this imperial man,
She gave us this unblemished gentle
man
might. with the substitution of one
word. be applied to the hero of San
tiago. 1t was from Maryland that Ad-
miral Schiey came to the service of his
country, and 1t Is evident that into his
hfe and character have been conserved
those characteristics of taste, of man
ner and OF conduct which were a dis
tinct. II not distinctive, feature of
the Old South" Certain 1t Ia that
among Americans OF the Western
States and Territories the temper and
disposition OF Admiral Schley are re-
garded with peculiar sense of ad-
miration. The traits of eraftiness and
cunning-the willingness to do indi-
rectly what honorable men would new
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