means finished in the far East, for, as has been shown, there was need
of delicate diplomacy, prudence and statesmanship. He asked to be
allowed to stay, and he did so, until, the main difficulty being passed,
and his health feeling the result of the tremendous strain that was
never relaxed, he finally set sail in the _Olympia_ for home, leaving
Hong Kong in May, and, one year after his great victory, proceeding at a
leisurely rate that did not bring him to his native shores until the
cool breezes of autumn. On the long voyage hither he was shown the
highest honors everywhere, and Washington or Lincoln could not have
received more grateful homage than was paid to him by his countrymen,
whom he had served so long, so faithfully and so well.

Meanwhile, it should be added, that the rank of full Admiral of the
navy, hitherto borne only by David Glasgow Farragut and David Dixon
Porter, was revived and bestowed, in February, 1899, upon George Dewey,
and of the three none has worn the exalted honor more worthily than the
Green Mountain Boy, who has proven himself the born gentleman and
fighter, the thorough patriot and statesman and the Chevalier Bayard of
the American navy.




THE REVOLUTIONARY BATTLES.




CHAPTER IV.