in the West Indies, to close the two Cuban ports
became the prime necessity. But had he entered San Juan without
previous appearance, the first or the second should have been adopted,
in accordance with the sound general principle that the enemy's fleet,
if it probably can be reached, is the objective paramount to all
others; because the control of the sea, by reducing the enemy's navy,
is the determining consideration in a naval war.

Without dogmatizing, however, upon a situation which did not obtain,
it appears now to the writer, not only that the eastward voyage of our
Havana division was unfortunate, viewed in the light of subsequent
events, but that it should have been seen beforehand to be a mistake
because inconsistent with a well-founded and generally accepted
principle of war, the non-observance of which was not commanded by the
conditions. The principle is that which condemns "eccentric"
movements. The secondary definition of this word--"odd" or
"peculiar"--has so dislodged all other meanings in common speech that
it seems necessary to recall that primarily, by derivation, it
signifies "away from the centre," to which sense it is confined in
technical military phrase. Our centre of operations had been fixed,
and rightly fixed, at Havana and Cienfuegos. It was subject, properly,
to change--instant change--when the enemy's fleet was known to be
within striking distance; but to leave the centre otherwise, on a
calculation of probabilities however plausible, was a proposition that
should have been squarely confronted with the principle, which itself
is only the concrete expression of many past experiences. It is far
from the writer's wish to advocate slavery to rule; no bondage is more
hopeless or more crushing; but when one thinks of acting contrary to
the weight of experience, the reasons for such action should be most
closely scrutinized, and their preponderance in the particular case
determined.

These remarks are offered with no view of empty criticism of a
mistake--if such it were--in which the writer was not without his
share. In military judgments error is not necessarily censurable. One
of the greatest captains has said: "The general who has made no
mistake has made few campaigns." There are mistakes and mistakes;
errors of judgment, such as the most capable man makes in the course
of a life, and errors of conduct which demonstrate essential unfitness
for office. Of the latter class was that of Admira