The trial of Commodore Craven has had a singular termination. The charge alleged against him was failing to attack the Stonewall with the Niagara and Sacramento at Coronna. The court adjudged him guilty "in a degree," and sentenced him to be suspended from duty on leave-pay for two years. The Secretary of the Navy sent back the "finding" to the court for revision; whereupon they repeated their "finding." The Secretary reviews the proceedings, says it is impossible for the action of the court to arrive at an opinion on the question of the actual culpability of the accused, and winds up with setting all the proceedings aside and releasing Commodore Craven from arrest.
It may be presumptuous in landsmen to venture an opinion in opposition to the "findings" of such old salts as Vice-Admiral Farragut and the three Rear Admirals and Captain that composed the court. But from all we have heard of the Stonewall and of Captain Craven's vessels, we are inclined to think that if he had attacked that ship, he would have been very properly arraigned for rashness and foolhardiness. In all likelihood, the gallant Craven and his vessels would have been past "finding" in that event, except at the bottom of the sea. Neither of his craft were fitted for even a bare collision with such a monster as the Stonewall, if she has been correctly described.
