Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-08-13
SCHLEY'S OWN STORY.
Battle of Santiago as Described
 by the Admiral.
THE QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY

1nL QU1D 14ON O1 hIN1 ONN1D11l4L I He Refers to the Battle of the Mile,
 I'm Which History Gives Laurels to
 Nelson, Not to Jervis-Denies That
 the Texas Was Endangered by the
 Brooklyn.
 The Saturday Evening Post, under the title "The Fight Off Santiago" gives personal account of the de struction of the Spanish fleet off San tiago on July 3, 1898, from the pen of Rear Admiral Winfield Scott schley
 Admiral Schley writes as follows in regard to the credit for the success of the operations:
 At about 8:45 a. m. of July 3, 1898, the flag orderly of the Brooklyn re- ported that a signal had been made from the New York to disregard movements of the commander in chief and that the flagship had gone eastward at high speed; also that the Massachusetts had withdrawn from the blockade during the midAie watch (12 to a. m.) and had gone eastward. Where either ship had gone or for what purpose had not been vouchsafed to the commander of the second squad ron, whose Bag, thus left on the block ading lines, ira accordance with the naval regulations, constituted the com mander of the second squadron the senior officer present in command.
 sThe regulations of the navy settle that beyond any doubt by fixing the responsibility of such officer when the service exigencies impose such duties upon him. The unwritten customs for centuries for governing pr for con trolling such matters have been gath cred into written code for the service guidance. The theory upon which all military organization is based, whether a squad or a squadron, is that no ele- ment of such organization can ever be left without a responsible commander, and no military exigency can occur in war when such force Is ever left without some one in control. The dates Nof commission held by officers are for the purpose of fixing this very question. The different gradations in the noncom- missioned ranks are but the continual ton of the line of command in case the ravages of battle remove one after another in the commissioned grades. There must be some one upon whom the responsibility of success or defeat can be imposed.
 From a confidential document under the title, Executive O, Third Session, Fifty-fifth Congress- communication by MT. Long respecting 'adyancements in the navy 1t is seen that the com mander in chiefs movements to Si- boney on that morning were under or ders from the department to meet Gen. eral Shafter. This order, then, fur nishes an explanation of the command CT In chiefs signal and subsequent movements eastward on July 3, 1898, and supplies, too, evidence of tempo rary assignment to a new duty, taking him on shore to the headquarters of the army. It fixes incontestably also the status of the commander Of the second squadron as senior officer pres ent in command before Santiago after Sampson's withdrawal
 After referring to Nelson's victory at Aboukir bay in 1798, when his com A1dAA8 WdG A OAVlS1OA OL 6Al 0O4A GNA- vis's feet he continues
 From that day to this no military man has ever claimed that the glory of Aboukir bay, or, as better known, the battle of the Nile, was in any respect shared by the grand and great Jervis, who was Nelson's commander in chief. It made no difference then, and it makes none today, whether a com mander in chief be eleven miles or eleven hundred miles away from the scene Of an action in which he did not participate. History will always grant the guerdon of victory to that com mander who fights and wins the bat tie. If the battle here related had mis- carried, or if, through mismanagement, Cervera or any of his ships had escap- ed that day, there would have been no difficulty whatever about who was in command or who would have had to bear the censure. It is as certain in that event that there would have been no effort to prove that the New York was within signal distance, no claim that it was a captains battle, nor any other of the sophistries that were in- vented in the aftermath of controversy about this great victory.
 "No instance is recalled where great success was won in battle when every l participant was not anxious to share in the glory, but no instance is remem- bered where any subordinate ever de- sired to share with his superior the odium of defeat Santiago alone would be unique as one of the worlds great battles won without anybody being in command If defeat had occurred, the commander of the second squadron would have had to take his medicine just the same.
 "While the squadron's strength was thus reduced, we know today from con- tributions of the Spanish officers, pub Iished afterward by the office of naval intelligence and therefore official, that Captain Concas made reconnaissance at the mouth of the harbor on the morn | il,c of tho hottIn in 0rdnr +o ipaTn thn