Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-05-30

most part with antiquated guns. Bu
when Dewey went into that harbor h'
went with heart as brave and fear
less as that Of Farragut when he SAILED
into Mobile bay. As far as the Amer
leans knew those waters were mined
with torpedoes. Those forts guarding
the outlets were supposed to be impas
sable. The Spanish admiraPs fleet, or
paper, was powerful flotilla Of death
Only a Spaniard could have any con
ception of how corrupt the Spanish
navy had become. Only a Spaniard
who was Il tyrant in Cuba, Porto Rice
and the Philippines. could suspect thai
Spain's own naval officers would fill
their torpedOes with sand and pocket
the money which ought to have pur
chased powder and would thus leave
their war ships absolutely defenseless
because the funds which were voted tc
the Spanish navy had been stolen.
UphoIding the Flag.
Our national Indebtedness to our ma
Wy is not confined TO its prowess in
battle. We owe much to the tact and
craftsmanship Of our naval command
ers They have not only TO uphold the
honor of our flag in distant seas, but to
display the courtesy and consideration
to the navies of other nations which
are necessary to the maintenance Of
friendly relations. 1t would have been
possible for Admiral Dewey by an in
discreet act while he lay in Manila bay
to have involved us in an international
quarrel. Thousands of miles away
from home, there he lay, surrounded
by the cannon of foreign ships. By
one false move he could have made
Germany an enemy and involved us in
war with Emperor William. Had he
been careless there might have ensued
n scramble on the part of other nations
to gain possession of sOme Of the Phil
ippine Islands for themselves. There
was similar danger in the Hawaiian
difficulty During all the negotiations
over the Hawaiian Islands there lay
the American war ship Philadelphia,
by careful diplomacy compelling the
foreign governments to keep their
hands off, until at last the American
flag few from above the eX-queen's
throne room. What honor is too great
for the memory Of Commodore Mat
thew C. Perry, who in March, 1852, ne
gotiated the famous treaty with Japan
which for the first time opened the
ports of the mlkado to the ships from
other lands? Incident after incident
could be cited where the American
sailor has won imperishable laurels in
preventing war rather than in winning
prizes after a war has been started.
Our American navy has defed the
severity of the elements as well as the
storm of shot and she'll. l am not
now speaking of the hurricanes which
blow over the Atlantic or the Pacific.
1 have in mind the frigid terrors Of the
far north, which Captain ID. L. Braine
defied when he tried to find the arctic
pole in 1873, and Lieutenant Com
mander George Washington De Long
defied when he led the fatal Jeanette
expedition in 1879. All, those were
brave men, yet no braver than General
the many gallant fellows who went
after the De Long party, and faced icy
dangers to bring back the survivors
and the frozen bodies of the dead. They
were no braver men than Lieutenant
Peary. who has again and again tried
to reach the north pole. On returning
home from his latest journey he had
to have part of his feet amputated
because they had been frozen among
the northern SHOWS. In spite of all
the past dangers and sufferings, he is
again chatting and fretting to so back
TO his old search.