Show ILONG PURSUES GHLE 4 Secretary Makes Reply to the Ad mirais Letter 4 NO ORDER WAS WITHHELD nrs EXPLANATION CONCRG S1ITSONS ORDER 4 Sohley Never GrveIt to the Depart meat Until Last JonthOrder Was Countermanded On the Day It Was eceivedcheys lIe treat Front Santiago Washington March GThe senate committee on naval affairs today mae public Secretary Longs second letter in the SampsonSclley controversy this communication being in reply to I Admiral Schleys letter The frt matter mat-ter which the secretary take up Is Ad mimi Schleys mention of Admiral Sampsons letter of May 20 which the secretary says seems to have given certain senators the impression that the department has withheld that letter let-ter On thIs point he says FirtThat this letter was not In the possession of the department on Feb 6 nor was its existence known to the department at thattme SecondThat it was in the possesSion posses-Sion of Admiral Schley until the 9th of February when it was sent to the de partent upon its request to be fur fished with all official records relating relat-ing to his duty as commanderInchief of the flying squadron and fying as a fag offIcer in the North Atlantic feet ThirdIn Its instructions with regard re-gard to maintaining the blockade of Clenuegos It was not more explicit than the letter of Admiral Sampson of May 19 which accompanied the communication com-munication of Feb G and which is pub lshed in the appendix to the report of the bureau of navigation on page 464 Fourthhat on May 21 the day ai tcr i was written Admiral Sampson sent order to Commodbre Schley In I duplicate by the Hawk and Marble head which orders were received by Commodore Schley during the early forenoon of the 23rd and 24th respectively respec-tively directing Commodore Schley to proceed with all dispatch but cautiously cautious-ly to Santiago If satisfied the Spanish squadron was not at Clenfueg The I set ot these orders a sent by the Hawk was received on the same day as the letter of the 20th and bearing the later date May 21 of course revoked the instructions to blockade Clenfuegos contained In the letter of the 19th and 20th instructions FifthiThat I the in flying obedience squadron to these loft I Clenfuegos ama the afternoon of the 2h but did not reach the Immediate vIcinity of Ump port of Santiago until l the morning of tIme 29th of May The secretary quotes the admirals reference to the departments order re I celed by him on the 27th of May directing di-recting him to positively ascertain If Ceneras fleet was in Santiago barber I and not to allow him to leave Santiago if found certainly to be there without a decisive action He gives the ad mlras reply In full and says I wi be seen that Rear Admiral I Schleys statement to the senate doe i not sho that he started to return to Key West and sicnIt to the onnrlrnn I I toill3t fect and so < informed the d patment and It might be inferred that I he immediately obeyed that order and ascertained the presence of the enemy f I at Santiago On the contrry his telegram I tele-gram above date May 28 ond written May 27 show that though havIng I just received the telegram of the department de-partment and having on hand a uf I dent supply of coal to return to Key West he reported that he culd not I obey the order and eontmted to proceed pro-ceed toward Key West However it later became evident to him that this was unnecessary and he resumed the movement toward Santiago Another point in AdmIral Schleys manner letter Is touched upon in the following Admiral Schieys mention of the signal sig-nal by Admiral Sampson at 845 a m July 3Disregard movements of the i commancerinchlefand his mention menton of the commandcrInchle toward Si I honey is fonowed by an incorrect inference in-ference towit This left the senior officer present and necessarily clothed me with the resPosibily of the com mad The signal above mentioned Is one which is frequently made In squad i ron and Is never held as in any sense I a relinquishment of command I Is made where for any reason the flagship leaves its assigned position ifs was the I case when the New York left her habitual i habit-ual blocJmclJS station the morning of I JUly 1 At such times I is made to avoid confusion which wuld result if other vessels fixing their position by i reference to the flagship were to move with her Without further signal the responsibility of command would not be shifted until the senIor officer had gone I out of signal distance I The statement concludes with the following fol-lowing The department furnishes the foregoing statement only to complete 1 the record in compliance with the request re-quest of the senate ot Jan 23 Desir 1 leg to do Admiral Sampson and Schley ful Justice for services rendered It has after full consideration of all the cir I umstances recommended to the president presi-dent their promotion to the grade of rear admiral and begs to express the hope that lila recommendations to the same may be confirmed by the senate DENIAL FROM SISBEE Annexed to the letter from the secretary sec-retary Is one from Captain Slbbee in reply to Admiral Schleys reference to him as commander of the scout steam n C nu un t L U IUVUUf 111 00 aULlnLY for the opinion that Cen < eraS feet was not In Santiago harbor On this point Slbbee says What I actually said to the admirl was that Pilot Nunez had first expressed the belief that such large vessels as Ceryeras cruisers could not get Into Santiago because of their length but he afterwards admitted ad-mitted that they mIght go In wIth the aid of tugs Ever officer on board the St Paul knew that I believed Celera to be at Santiago nevertheless I considered con-sidered Runezs opinion He says that he frt saw the feet In the harbor on May 29 and signaled Admiral Schley and adds While I had not known from previous obsera ton that Cervers feet was In San tag I believed that it WlS there because be-cause I had been so Informed by the I navy department and during the eight I days the St Paul remained of Santiago I ago the different yessels touching there and communicating with me had brought no counter report from the I navy department i With reference to the statement that he ha confirmed the difficulty of coal lag off Santiago Captain Slgsbee says There had been weather unfavorable for coaling but I remember no statement state-ment of mine relative to coaling made to the admiral eceptng on the morning morn-Ing when we jointly discovered the Spanish vessels The commanding of floors were assembled on board the Brooklyn On that occasion I twice InfOrmed the admiral that the weather then prevailing was unusly favorable favor-able for coaling at sea and I recommended recom-mended that advantage be taken ot It on the ground that so good an opportunity oppor-tunity could not be expected often At the same time I expressed the belief that Guantanamo bay should be seized as a base not necessarily by Admiral Schley but as soon as the troops were available to hold the plac |