1 62 Admiral Dewey 



tions, so as to protect himself if something hap 

 pened to go wrong. An infinity of excuses can al 

 ways be found for non-action. 



Admiral Dewey was sent to command the fleet 

 on the Asiatic station primarily because he had 

 such a record in the past that the best officers in the 

 navy believed him to be peculiarly a man of the fight 

 ing temperament and fit to meet emergencies, and 

 because he had shown his willingness to assume 

 heavy responsibilities. How amply he justified his 

 choice it is not necessary to say. On our roll of 

 naval heroes his name will stand second to that of 

 Farragut alone, and no man since the Civil War, 

 whether soldier or civilian, has added so much to 

 the honorable renown of the nation or has deserved 

 so well of it. For our own sakes, and in particular 

 for the sake of any naval officer who in the future 

 may be called upon to do such a piece of work as 

 Dewey did, let us keep in mind the further fact that 

 he could not have accomplished his feat if he had 

 not had first-class vessels and excellently trained men ; 

 if his warships had not been so good, and his cap 

 tains and crews such thorough masters of their art. 

 A man of less daring courage than Dewey would 

 never have done what he did ; but the courage itself 

 was not enough. The Spaniards, too, had courage. 

 What they lacked was energy, training, forethought. 

 They fought their vessels until they burned or sank ; 



