The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-07 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL IN FELLIGENCE.

Gold, 1511. Exchange, 166.
Treasury 7-30 Notes, 106-1. New York Central
Railway, 132 i; Erie, 1074; Illinois Central, 1171.
Cotton, 80c.
The City of Washington takes 45,000 dole. in
specie.

Secretary Welles, Admiral Dupont, and

the Monitors.

(From the New York Times.)

The publication of the voluminous documents
which accompany the report of the Secretary of the
Navy puts us in a position to form an intelligent
judgment respecting various points connected with
that department, and, among others, of the opera-
tions in Charleston harbour which resulted in the
recall of Rear-Admiral Dupont. This particular
question is one of great interest, both as regarding
the reputation of a distinguished naval officer and
the merits and capabilities of the new class of ves-
sels on which our Government has bestowed so much

expense.
The professional skill, and even the personal
honour, of Admiral Dupont have been so inexcus-
ably impugned by Secretary Welles and his satel-
lites that the press would be derelict if, with the
means of authentic information in its hands, it
should neglect to do that officer justice. Not only
does Mr. Welles put slurs on him in his report, but
the Baltimore paper which has been the foremost
ally of the department in defaming Admiral Dupont
has, within the last day or two, been mada the
vehicle of suggestions which are disgraceful to him
if they are well founded, or to the makers and in-
spirers of them if they are not. It was insinuated
that Admiral Dupont did not wish to take Charles-
ton, since its capture would put a stop to blockade-
running and deprive him of -the 200,000 dollars a
year of prize money which he is alleged to have
been making. Such charges are atrocious; and, as
they are supported by no evidence,—nay, as contra-
dicted by all the evidence—they must provoke the
indignation of honourable men. It must be a sordid
mind that can easily admit the possibility of a high
naval officer preferring precarious pecuniary gains
to the glory of recapturing the great nursery of the
rebellion; If motives of this kind were to be sur-
mised, it would be easier to conceive that an inven-
tor should be over sanguine respecting the merits
of his ships, and the proprietors of ship-yards in-
terested in the continuance of their contracts, than
that such a man as Dupont could prefer pelf to re-
nown, when an opportunity afforded to make the
whole world resound with his fame.
The practical question is, which has failed to meet
public expectation—Dupont or the Monitors
Secretary Welles, in his report, declares strongly in
favour of the Monitors; bat Secretary Welles is not
qualified, either as a naval expert or as an engineer,
to have any opinion on the subject which should
oatweigh that of the commanders of the vessels.
He has every reason for making it appear (if he
truthfully can) that he did not commit a mistake in
authorising the expenditures that have been made
on these vessels; and in this view his interest is
identical with that of the inventor and the builders.
Bat as the men who fought the vessels have strong
personal motives for wishing them successful, being
sharers in all the glory that is won by their means,
their judgment, formed in actual trial, ought to
have BOMB weight. But the appeal is not to vague
and conflicting judgments, but to specific and well
attested facts, which until now the public had not
the means of knowing.
When the attempt to take Sumter, in April last,
miscarried, it was the policy of the Government, for
entirely justifiable reasons, to conceal the weakness
of the Monitors. It was expedient to keep up the
demonstration against Charleston, and to continue
to play upon its fears, and so prevent the sending
away of any part of its troops to reinforce the other
rebel armies. It was accordingly given out that the
Monitors were not materially damaged, and that the
attack would be immediately renewed. Whether
such a renewal would have been safe—whether, in
fact, it would not have been foolhardy and ruinous,
the reader will presently be in a condition to judge.
Time and events have, indeed, done much to render
this testimony unnecessary ; for although General
Gilmore has taken the batteries on Morris Island,
and demolished Fort Sumter, Admiral Dupont's suc-
cessor has not yet taken the Monitors into Charles-
ton harbour, nor does anybody now expect that he
will, except under cover of military operations.
But if most intelligent men think Admiral
Dupont has long ceased to need any vindication,
they must still be interested in knowing the precise
extent of the injuries received by the Monitors in
the principal test to which they have been put.
We accordingly insert the following brief extracts
from the reports of their several commanders, made
immediately after the engagement.
Captain Drayton, of the Passaic :
"At the fourth shot from the 11-inch gun I was
struck in quick succession in the lower part of the
turret by two heavy shots, which bulged in its
plates and beams, and forming together the rolls on
which the 11-inch carriage worked, rendered it
wholly useless for the remainder of the action, seve-
ral hours being necessary to put it again in work-
ing order. Soon after it was discovered that there
was something the matter with the turret itself,
which could not be moved, and on examination it
was found that part of the brass ring underneath
it had been broken off, and being forced in board
had jammed ; on clearing this the turret could
again be moved, bat for some time irregularly. A
little after this a very heavy rifle shot struck the.
upper edge of the turret, broke all cf its 11 plates,
and then glancing upward took the pilot house, yet
with such force as to make an indentation of 2-1
inches, extending nearly the whole length of the
shot. The blow was so severe as to considerably
smash in the pilot house, bend it over, open the
plates, and squeeze out the top, so that on one side
it was lifted up three inches above the top on which
it rested, exposing the inside of the pilot house, and
rendering it likely that the next shot would take off
the top itself entirely."
Captain Rodgers, of the Weehawken :
" Two or three heavy shot struck the side armour
near the same place. They have so broken the iron
that it only remains in splintered fragments upon
that spot; much of it can be picked off by hand, and
the wood is exposed. The deck was pierced so as
to make a hole, through which water ran into the
vessel, bat it was not large. Thirty-six bolts were
broken in the turret, and a good many in the pilat
house; but as these are concealed by an iron lining,
I have no means of knowing how many. At one
time the turret revolved with difficulty in ccnse-
quencd of a shot upon its junction with!the pilot
house, but it was worked well again after a few
turns had been made with higher steam."
Captain Worden, of the Montauk
" I desire to say that I experienced serious em-
barrassment in manoeuvring my vessel in the nar-
row and uncertain channel, with the limited
means of observation afforded me from the pilot
house, under the rapid and concentrated fire from
the forts, the vessels of the fleet close around
me, and neither compass nor buoys to guide me.
After testing the weight of the enemy's fire, and
übs,2rving the obstime.ions, I An led to believe that
Charleston cannot be taken by the naval force now