The age-herald., 1901-07-26


 the same reward bestowed on other off,
 oers advancement in numbers in his
 grade), and long after the controversy
 was given the fun duty of his rank the command of the SeEth Atlantic squadron-whcih he has only just re1in-
 quished. Tn brief, so far as anything
 to the contrary appears on the records
 of the navy, Admiral Sehley during for
 ty-five years of honorable service has
 steadily advanced to the highest official
 honors open to the naval officer in tho regular course of his profession. The Assault on Schley. 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 ex- hibfted either a. timidity amounting to ab- solute cowardice or a prevarication or facts that were intrinsically falsehoods. Schley turned in caftin flight from the danger spot toward which duty, honor and the whole American peo- pie were most earnestly urging him. Viewed in whatever light it may be, the foregoing dispatch cannot be characterized otherwise than as being wfthout exception the most hunfTiatfns, cowardly and la mentable report ever penned by an American naval officer.
 As to the reconnaissance at Santtago: This t.mid and nerveless attack on Ger | veras ships is the more disappointing when we remember the elaborate and brave preparations Schley had made to "get at the eneny' in earnest |. :. Schley's farcfca1 blockade cannot be de- scrfbed otherwise than as wfIIfm dtscbe- dience Of orders, ,s As to the loop, of the Brooklyn: schley hastily ordered the helm aport 7. "But that will carry us into tfse Texas" said the officer. 'Let the Texas take care of herself" was the heartIesy l reply, and the shameful spectacle of an American warship, supported by a force | superior to the enemy-a warship whose ! commander had expended such vast Qgrau- | tites of ammunition on target practice In l the presence of fashionable hotel as l Hampton Roads in order to meet worthy l foe-delfberately turning tail and running l away, was presented Cervera mo- ply threw down the gauntlet. schley
 craven1y declined to pick it up.
 | Comment upon such language as this, | and there Is much more of 1t, is needless. l Hard as 1t Is to conceive, nevertheless 1t may be that after all these years of serv- | ice an admiral of the United States navy
 suddenly perpetrated military crimes of
 the gravest sort; but until this IS estab- | lished by the verdict of competent tri- l bunal, common fairness and decency, if | not patriotism, should have prevented the
 use of such terms Of course, this ends tory, since it destroys all the dependence
 upon the discrimination, judicial boise and | impartiaIity of the author.
 l But the shortcomings of the work itself | are of little moment as compared with | the graver questions which this extraor- | dinary outgiving must arouse. The state
 ment in the preface is that nearly every commanding officer concerned has read l and corrected proof sheets dealing with
 actions in which each figured ;'These men | were participants in the several events | with schley and also his subordinates. It
 is inconceivable that they would be will
 ing to examine and approve proof sheets whereon were printed the terrible charges 1 above quoted, unless they had fully weighed the consequences of so doing;
 and certainly not unless they had deter
 mined to present these charges in official
 form for the action of the Navy Depart ment. Nor, indeed, 1t is imaginable that
 the author himself would have placed
 these officers in the position he has un-
 less he had from them ample assurance
 that they would sustain him in the most | effective manner.
 As matters now stand the commanding
 officers who have read and approved on
 proof sheets the charges made fin this
 book should be called upon to present l them for action, if they do not speedily l do so of their own motion.