The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-11-05

and the naval department, however,
were of the opinion that no offensive
action should be taken till war had
been formally declared
"Was Mr.. Roosevelt among those
who thought the Spanish fleet ought
to be destroyed before war was de-
clared?" the reporter inquired of Mr..
Long
" He was" said the eX-secretary.
Thereupon the Herald proceeds to
comment upon the serious refleo-
ton" thus presented, ION the iudg-
ment and discretion in those days of
Mr.. Roosevelt" and declares that cit
is wholly in keeping with what is
known in other ways of Mr.. Roose-
velt's conduct at that time In an ar
ticle of length and in the caustic terms
of animadversion which have become
familiar in anti-imperialisti litera.
tuTe. the Herald arraigns the assistant
secretary of the navy as Hotspur who,
according to Mr.. Long, proposed
doing an act hardly less ulshonorable
in the view of international law and
public morals than was the destruction
of the Maine in the harbur of Havana,
conceding that this was the deliberate
act of Spaniards. " According to tie
Historian Long it was owing to the
good MI Secretary Long, and mol
dentally to the good President Nc
Kinley, that this marplot subordinate
in the navy department was prevented
from utterly discrediting his country
with all the civilized powers of the
world.
This story of Johnnie Long, backed
| by his affidavit, would hardly be
credited - outside of imperialistic
circles, Whose members are credulous
! in proportion as a tale il improbable
and is seasoned with the lurid rhetoric
of the cult. Throughout the coun-
try there has been-and is still--the
impression, based on the facts of the
situation for weeks and months pre-
ceding the declaration of war, that
the wonderful preparedness of the
navy for the conflict was i'll some
just and large measure due to the
foresight and remarkable energy OF Mr..
Roosevelt, the assistant secretary of
the navy. This naval preparedness
was the condition that made the war
short, sharp and decisive. The real
marplot of the naval service, during
the war and after it was ended, with
brilliancy in its prosecution that is
unmatched in naval history, was the
secretary of the navy who, as his
torian, is now arraigning his former
subordinate who has become President
of the nation. Whatever of disgrace,
scandal, calumny, rank injustice and
dishonor has furnished the glory of
the naval service, came through the
office of the secretary of the navy,
and as the self-appointed historian of
the navy in the war he is seeking to
perpetuate in it's annals the perver-
sions of fact and justice of which he
was the leading instrument.
The better minded press of the
country, without regard to politics,
regards Mr.. Longs charge as incred-
ible. That Mr. Roosevelt contradict
ed his known character and reputa-
ton by suggesting that we go forth
wantonly and destroy the fleets of a
nation with which we were at peace
is thing the country will not believe
for a moment. Other journals, in the
spirit of Indignation and resentment
the charge provokes, pay their atten-
tions to Mr.. Long personally. The
Tribune of Chicago calls him SLOW
coach. The Times of New York
compares "his kinetic energy" to
"the movement of molasses in jan
uary." Not inaptly the Ledger of
Philadelphia regards him as lone of
the ripest, rarest fruits of the cold
storage culture of New England. {"
In similar vein the Chicago Inter
Ocean recalls the circumstance that
Mr.. Long was insisting that the
Maine was blown up from the inside
and was displeased with naval officers
who took any other view of the case.
With extreme pertinence the Inter
Ocean adds;
"When Theodore Roosevelt saw that
we must fight Spain and was urging
that the navy go forward to make the
war short and decisive, the Hon.
John ID. Long was persistently shut
ting his eyes to the facts and was try
ing to run away. The Hon. John ID.
Longs attempts now to make out
that he was right and that Theodore
Roosevelt was wrong at that time are
not worth serious discussion, for two
reasons. In the first place, the Hon.
John ID. Long is rather trivial per-
son, in view of his conduct at the time
in question. In the second place, if
Theodore Roosevelt had not thought
and acted as he did in February, 1898,
he would not have become Governor
of New York and Vice President and
he would not now be President of
the United States. Against the Hon.
John ID. Longs attempt to appeal to
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