The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-29 00:00:00

the general report of the inspector—that i
money is still to be largely voted for
reports, on inspection, such as Mr. ADDER
LEY described so justly—reports on "general
order," " good moral atmosphere," and such vague
desoriptions, are to be followed by a grant—and the
may object of returning to these empty generalities
is stated to be, to make the grants to the teachers
and managers more " certain." Whether the Go-
vernment will persist in ascertaining results which
can be tested,. and making a more substantial pay-
ment for these, remains to be seen ; if not, the nation
will, after all, be cheated out of its money for the
benefit of merely amateur educationists. We wish
1 children to be clean, orderly, and decent, and espe-
cially to learn to bow properly to their betters—to
the clergyman and his wife and daughters more
particularly—and " to all who are placed in autho-
\rity over them." Still we grudge the payment of
nearly a million a year for this sort of thing. To

wooden frigates, the Congress and the Cumber-
land, is worth reading and pondering about all
over again. It has been related anew in a very
lucid and compact form in a communication pub-
lished to day by our chief morning contempo-
rary, a communication adiressed to our
contemporary by a correspondent of undoubted
intelligence, a correspondent who evidently
understands very well what ho is Nuiting about.
" We find," he says, "that the Confederate iron

lIES,

plated steamer Merrimac, in commencing the action
with the Federal wooden frigate Cumberland and
Congress, fired two guns at the former, and then
struck her with her sharp bows, making a jagged
hole in her side seven feet in extent. The Cum-
berland immediately began to sink, when the Mer-
rimac backed a short distance and ran into her a
second time, making a terrible hole in her, the
water running into her at a furious rate, and
finally sinking her." The Merrimac next turns
her attentions to the Congress, and, in less
than an hour, the latter strikes to her iron-sided
adversary. The Congress had 50 killed, includ-
ing three officers, 27 are reported wounded, and 40
prisoners, The corresponded; then goes on to
remark that " the Cumberlani is reported to have
had about 150 killed and wounded. The 100 lb.
shot of the Cumberland, and tie shot from the bat-
teries on shore, are stated to have produced no effect
on the Merrimac, and it is alsc said the 1801 b.-shot
of the Federal shield ship Monitor, which after-
wards arrived at the scene of iction, produced but
little more effect on the Merrinac's iron sides than
did the 100 lb. shot of the Cumberland, and that it
was demonstrated by the result of the fight that it
was of little use to fire balls of less than 2001 b. at
her." And finally, "W. L.," the correspondent
whose remarks we are here quoting, thus completes
his narrative :—" The Merrimac continued her
fire, assisted by two gunboats, up to the
evening, now throwing shells into the Federal
camp at Newport News, and engagug the Minne•
seta and other Federal vessels, the bt. Lawrence,
Roanoke, and Mystic arriving during the afternoon,
and proceeding up the James River. In the well-
ing the Federal turret ship Monitor, Capt. Lies-
son's iron battery, arrived from New York, and n'xt
morning the two iron vessels engaged each other
for two or three hours at long and short rangk
without producing any perceptible effect upon each
other, although the officers of the Monitor claim
penetrating the sides of the Merrimac with three
shots. Her hauling off from her action with the
Monitor was most probably owing to her fuel or
ammunition running short. The. results of this ac-
tion prove that iron-plated ships will not bedestroyed
so easily as many people may imagine when in
action." The conclusion to be arrived at from all
this—and the above account of the action •of the
Merrimac is so succinctly given that we have un-
hesitatingly yielded to the temptation of repeating
it—the conclusion to be arrived at from all this we
take to be conclusive. Nothing under a 200-pounder,
we now know, can be of the slightest utility when
discharged against the hull of evena hastilycontructed
floating armadillo like the Merrimac of the Con-
federate Government. It is suggested, in conse-
quence of this proven fact, that some of our war-
ships should, henceforth, be mounted with no lesser
ordnance than 300-pounders. For, obviously, unless
a whole broadside of 100-pounders be conveyed upon
a given point of an enemy's iron-cased war steamer,
the steel shell or crust of that war vessel will remain
unflawed and impervious to the shock of battle. It
becomes in obvious, therefore, that wooden warships
should be as rapidly as may be, and as strongly as
may be " clothed all in steel," and in the next place
that they should be every one of them armed, not
a select few amongst them, but all of them without
exception armed—invariably—with heavy ord-
nance !
ma

teach them the three elements (unless they can
learn them without our help) we should not

grudge it.
Next, the Government gives up grouping the
children by age—that is, it gives up requiring that
masters shall teach the children by a certain age
what they ought to know by that age. We wish
the children of the poor may be gainers by this—
that the grantee party will be so is quite certain.
Money will flow from the Treasury, Mr. LOWE
assures them, wonderfully faster, and that is of
course the great merit of the concession. Then,
thirdly, the pupil teachers are to be more care-
fully secured, not in their rights, but in the
expectations which masters and managers bad led
them to form. How " conciliatory" the proposal
—it stands thus—if the school has not earned
enough for the managers to pay the pupil
teachers by its grants, the Government will make
it good—if it receives more than it wants the
managers are to retain the surplus ! Surely we
may hope that no managers will have the face to
ask more than this. We wait, of course, to see the
concessions in print—but, so far as we can under-
stand them, little check will now be left on the
indolence of teachers and the neglect of managers.
In regard to the last two resolutions of Mr.
WALPOLE, those which have nothing to do with the
details of the Code, but which provide for the
bringing before the country in January any material
alteration proposed to be made in the regulations ;
also for Parliament having a month to express its
opinion on the proposed alterations—in regard to
these, no objection can be taken. Alterations ad-
verse to the interests of the Exchequer, as well as
favourable to it, may be easily made by the Govern-
ment of the day ; and, if we remember rightly, the
Government of which Mr. WALPOLE was a member,
sinned in that way more than any other, considering
the shortness of the time they were in office.
On the whole, the surrender of last night must be
regarded both as a Government defeat and a triumph
of newly created interests. Never was measure
more honestly conceived in the public interest than
that now reduced to nihility. An immense depart-
ment had grown up, and was rapidly growing,
which was proved to have left unbenefited the vast
majority
enormous
o
utmh es
fcohri ld re n of
teaching. t h e pThoso rt
stwhichofit drew
"no
work
no pay" was proposed by the Government, and those
who ought to have done the work forthwith raise
such a clamour on the insecurity of their pay that
the House of Commons is frightened and the Go-
vernment bows to the threats of the forty thousand.
Small encouragement this to all Governments to
get the nation work for its money. Paying its
officials is to be the grand thing.

The Confederate iron-plated steamer, the Merri
mac, has certainly given the world a taste, at last,
of what is likely to be, henceforth, the new syste
of naval tactics and the future character of mari.
time warfare. Adieu, for ever, to the " old wooden
" famous in heroic story," in the records

The arrival of the New York has not added
much to our previous information on the state of

things in America. Some, even of the New York
press, describe the retreat from Manassas like that

both of ancient and modern history, in the annals
both of classic Greece and living Britain—erst-

of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF across the harbour ai

while, but even in the latter instance we may be
certain no longer, of affording an im-
penetrable barrier against foreign in-

Sebastopol, as " a great success." Probably the
Federals had little inclination for a battle even if

they had known of the retreat. The Richmond
papers assert that it was made for purely strategic
reasons. The question, however, is, was it not the
strategy of the Federal Generals in the West, and
of BANKS at Harper's Ferry, which compelled the
Confederates to retreat strategically. In the pro-
bable state of the weatier it is not likely that
the Federals will be able to follow at all
promptly their retrea•"ing enemies ; and we
may not, therefore, for some time hear
of movements in Virginia. All, however, as so
often observed, depends on the point respecting
which we have but presumptive evidence—the spirit
of the South. One accotnt tells us that the Fede-
rals were welcomed at Winchester, the town not a
great way from Harper's Ferry. Other accounts
breathe nothing but Southrn rage and desperation.
In the West, on both sides the Mississippi, the
gain is clearly with the Federals. In Missouri and
Arkansas the military triumphs are complete. On
the Mississippi, Columbus has now been abandoned ;
at New Madrid, further south, they have followed
the example of Columbus ; and at Memphis—the
commercial capital of Tennessee, and almost on the
border of the next State, Mississippi—the inhabi-
• 1 tants seemed divided in opinion whether to burn
I and quit the place or to remain and take the good
the Federals might bring them. Such a state of
things would show at least a strong and desperate
Confederate element in the place. Fresh Federal
victories are also announced in Tennessee.
As might be expected, the affair of the Merrimac
has caused Congress to make large appropriations
for the purpose of building iron-clad vessels, and
with the extraordinary energy American mechanics
and engineers have shown, we may expect that in
a very short time they will have a powerful fleet
of ironsides afloat in almost incredibly short time.
More than fifteen millions of dollars (£3,000,000)

vaders. " Farewell, a long farewell," to the
" hearts of oak," heretofore the shields of our insular
independence—the human hearts of oak manning
those floating citadels can hereafter be alone
counted upon with anything like implicit reliance
as the guardians of our imperial rule. So far as the
exigencies of the age are concerned, we might really
almost as well resort to the old lumbering style of
naval architecture peculiar, let us say, for example,
to the days of his Majesty King HENRY VIII.,
when our commanders upon the deep were in the
habit of clambering up on the lofty deck of a huge
fantastic structure something like a magnified city
barge, the said commanders being arrayed in steel
corslets, each carrying a baton like a gilded rolling
pia, each combining amphibiously in his own person
the dignities of General and Admiral ! We might as
lief revert, we say, to that old obsolete style of naval

architecture as retain unaltered, unmodified, unim•

proved, the later style of our wooden frigates and
three-deckers. Hitherto, so far as any actual con-
flict itself has been concerned, the changes intro-
duced in the navies of England, viz., of France or
of America, have been changes, to a certain extent
at least, of purely conjectural efficacy. We had—

• -
until these recent tidings from the opposite shores
of the Atlantic came to us—simply to draw our
own conclusions theoretically as to what might
be the consequences in future seafights of so
complete and absolute
,a transformation.
It was not alone that sails, as means
of propulsion, had been superseded almost entirely,
at any rate had been wholly subordinated to the
application of steam as a motive power. It was
not, again, merely that the huge, floundering
paddlewheels first of all in vogue as the precise
implements used for the purposes of propulsion by
the steam-engines constructed within our men-of-
war—it was not alone that the old paddlewheels
had in most instances given way to the more secure
and reliable, and to a certain extent, one might
almost say, indestructible screw propeller. It was
that toengine, to the screw propeller,
to all the steamgrea
lesser improvements
the
teror
applied by engineering science to the enhancement
of the latent forces and the varied capacities of
our giant war vessels than had within the last
few years been added—by ourselves, by our Gallic
neighbours, by our youthful kindred in America,
in what were formerly known as the United
States, united now no longer—a complete easing
of iron to one war ship after another. Instance
the grandest instance of all, our English Warrior !
Instance, that appropriate symbol of the French
incentive, La Gloire ! Instance the now historical
Merrimac —just fresh from battle, dented by can-
non-balls, smirched by gunpowder.
The world no longer conjectures, America her-
self no longer" calculates" what may or may not be
accomplished by one of these great iron-clad war
vessels--we all now know for certain the perfect
efficacy for warlike purposes of that new method
of carrying
on maritime wars, of this new and
improved style of naval architecture. There are
henceforth actual facts to go upon. We can now
look back to recorded experiences. The story of
the Merrimac's triumph over the two Federal

are already voted for iron-clad gunboats, batteries,
and the requisite navy-yard works. In this kind
of work they will rapidly outstrip the South,
having so much larger manufacturing power at
their command. Meantime the Merrimac was
repairing, and we may yet hear of another brush
between her and the Monitor. The sum of the in-
telligence is, that the Confederate army in Virginia
will take a strong position about halfway between
Washington and Richmond ; that it has not with-
drawn all its troops and batteries from the Potomac
lower down ; that the Federals have it all their
own way on the Mississippi and the Border States
there ; that the Confederate troops suffer great pri-
vations, but do not yet speak of giving up; and that
the Generals FLOYD and PILLOW, who managed so
badly at Fort Donnelson, have been suspended by
JEFFERSON DAVIS. They seem well to deserve it.
Thus the struggle is still as far from showing signs
of speedy termination as ever; the South being
still such a mystery of secrecy, that any event,
almost, may
be announced any day.

Francis Countess of Albemarle and Colonel the
Hon. P. Cost have left town for Stoner, Newton Abbott,
Devonshire.
Viscountess Newport and Miss Anson have
returned to the Earl of Wilton's, at Melton Mowbray, from
Belvoir Castle.
Lord and Lady Foreeter have arrived at Melton
Mowbray.

ME SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1862.
"SAD

i'ES TO THE
's.

LAT

E WS.

AMERICA.
Per Norwegian, by Telegraph to Portland and

from Londonderry.)
NEW YORK, MARCH 17.
General M'Clellan has issued an address to the
army of the Potomac, in which he says:—

" I have held you till now inactive in order that
you might give a death-blow to the rebellion. For-
midable artillery you now have had created, and
th© Potomac army is now a real army, magnificent
in materiel, admirable in discipline and construc-
tion, and excellently well armed and equipped. The
moment for action has arrived.

" I know I can trust in you to save the country.
The period for inaction is past. I will bring you
now face to face with the rebels, and only pray that
God may defend the right.

"In whatever direction you may move, however
strange my actions may appear, bear in mind that
my fate is linked with yours. All I do is to bring you
where you wish to be—on a decisive battle-field. It
is my business to place you there. It shall be my
care—it has ever been—to gain success with the
least possible loss. I know that, if necessary, you
will follow me to our graves for the righteous cause.
" God smiles upon us! Victory attends us yet!
I would not have you think that our aim is to be
attained without a manly struggle. I will not
disguise it from you that you have brave foes to
encounter ; foemen well worthy of the steel that
you will use so well.
" I shall demand of you great and heroic exer-

tion—rapid and long marches—privations perhaps.
We will share all these together, and, when this
sad war is over, we will all return to our homes
and feel that we can ask no higher honour than the
proud consciousness that we belong to the Army of
the Potomac."

Sworn statements have been made by deserters
from the Confederate army that, on the 3d of
March the Confederates had 90,000 men at Ma-
nassas, 25,000 between Manassas and Acquia
Creek, and 12,000 at Winchester and other points
—in all 150,000 men, who could be concentrated
at Manassas at a day's notice.
Commodore Foote, with several gunboats and a
portion of the mortar fleet, has passed down the
Mississippi. Their destination is supposed to be
Island No. 10.

TURIN, MARCH 28, EVENING.
The rumours of Ministerial modifications are

unfounded.

The Ministry is only being completed.
The portfolio of Foreign Affairs has been offered
to General Durando, who, however, has not yet
accepted it.

CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 26.

The following additional details of the recent
engagement between the Turks and the Montene-
grins were published here to-day :
" The inhabitants of Tranitza, one of the villages
occupied about a month ago by the Montenegrins,
summoned recently to their assistance a body of
Bashi-Bazouks, who were in the neighbourhood, to
deliver them from their assailants.

"These irregular troops, amounting to from 400
to 600 men, had scarcely entered Tranitza when
they were surrounded by a very considerable Mon-
tenegrin force. The Bashi-Bazouks, being thus
surprised, were obliged to surrender without strik-
ing a blow, and were conducted to Cettigne.
" Measures have been taken to expel the Monte-
negrins from the positions which they occupy, and
to retrieve the want of caution shown by the
commander of the Bashi-Bazouks."

CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 28.
According to news received from Syra, Nauplia
has surrendered.

Those insurgent chiefs who had not received the
benefit of the amnesty had fled.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE, MARCH 28

The declaration made by the representative of
Electoral Hesse in the Federal Diet yesterday,
expressed the wish of the Elector that the Federal
Diet should fulfil its duty.

The Electoral Government maintains that the
proposition of Prussia and Austria does not state
distinctly whether, when the " Estates" are spoken
of, the first Chamber is meant ; whether also the
expression " constitutional way," used in the
Austro-Prussian note, alludes to the electoral law
of 1831, or that of 1849 ; and whether the institu-
tions of Electoral Hesse, to be suppressed as at
variance with the FederalrConstitution, are to dis•
appear before or after the Electoral Government
shall have come to an understanding with the
country.

MALTA, MARCH 28, 4.5 r.m

The Himalaya, with the Japanese Ambassadors,
arrived here at eleven this morning. They intend
leaving for Marseilles on Monday.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY.

BOURSE, March 28.—The amount of business
transacted continues very limited. Threes, for the
Account, commenced at 69f. 60c., and after receding
to 69f. 45c., are now at 69f, 55e. The Railway
Share Market is firmer than the Rente, but the
business is far below an ordinary average. The
following were the last quotations :-
11 per per Cents... 97 50 Bank Shares 3100
Do, end month.... 97 50 Credit F oncier 1485
3 per Cents
Do. end month.... 69 75 Piedmontese Fives 67 50
New 3 per Cents .. Roman —
Do, end month.... Austrian -
Credit Mobilier.... 766 25 Spanish Threes 5l 50
Do. Account — Home Debt