ADMIRALS SAMPSON AND SCHLEY.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 28 August 1901, Page 4

ADMIRALS SAMPSON AND SCHLEY.

At j|lftst tho controversy between the advocates of Admirals Sampson and Sehoy, as to which was tho actual hero of tho battle of Santiago is to bo officially investigated. Mr Mac Lay published a new vohuno of his " History of the United States, '' which includes an account of the Spanish-American war. Admiral Schley was attacked, and determined to ask for a Naval Board of Inquiry, which was promptly appointed by the Navy Department. Admiral Dew9.y will serve as a member of the board. It is said that Admiral Schley also intends to sue the historian (Mr Z. S. Mac Lay) for libel, but this will doubtless depend upon the finding of the Naval Court. A Court of Inquiry differs from a eourt-martial in that it has no power to inflict a sentence. It has power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and punish contempts, but can only state facts and not deliver opinions unless expressly required to do so in the order for convening. Mr Mac Lay accused Admiral Schley of having run away in a "caitiff fight,'' and further denounces him as a coward, cur, and traitor. The attack was so severe as to be condemned by those who have heretofore favoured Admiral Sampson, but who never imagined that any such extreme construction could be placed upon the reports of the happenings of the great battle. The specific allegations against Admiral Schley are that he delayed the squadron of which he had command at Cienfuego3, Cuba, and when finally ordered to proceed with haste to Santiago made slow progress; that he later made retrograde movements ; and, finally, that he attempted to run away when the Spanish Hoot began to emerge from the harbour of Santiago and a battle was imminent. Admiral Schley has long been silent under accusation, but says the recent attack was the first definite charge against him, or the first of which he could tike cognisance. The inquiry will be thorough, but there ar.3 deep animosities i.i high places regarding themattei, and the quarrel will be bitter. Admiral Schley came into the navy during the war of rebellion, and for this reasan lacks standing with officers, while Admiral Sampson, who was long instructor at the Annapolis Naval Academy, has always been the idol of the officers whom he taught. Not long since one of the confidential communications which naval officers are constantly required to make to the department was in some mysterious way stolen, and given to the press. It was a letter from Admiral Sampson, in which he endorsed the claims of a young gunner, formerly under his command, who had fitted himself to pass tho examination for admission to the line of officers, bur, expressing opposition in the abstract of the policy r.f permitting enlisted men to enter the ranks of officers. The writing of the letter may have been unwise, and certainly did stir up the wrath of a large body of free and independent citizens, who felt the Admiral's attitude to be snobbish and undemocratic. Admiral Schley's friends declare the letter was aimed against him. '