The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-12 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN..

NEW YORK, LPRIL 29, 1862.

SlR,—There appears to have been so mu eh said
in Parliament and written in the British journals
respecting the late so called "Naval Battle" in
Hampton Roads, and, as it may be expected b 7 the
time this letter reaches England, the "great ex cite-
meat" which the New York press describes to hetve
been created by the wts:mderful doings of the Moni-
tor, &c., may have somewhat subsided—and, tht re-
fore, any lengthened observations of mine would be
of little interest to your readers—l shall condense
my remarks upon the subject (one, however, of
much indirect importance to all maritime nations)
—into as few words, and those as practical as may
be.

Indeed, it does seem to me that many persons in
the "old country" have been misled by the usual
rather grandiose and sometimes very ima!l:native
style of description practised by the gei:er ttlity ot
newspapers in this country, into supposing that the
case of the Monitor, or the Monitor part of the case,
decided or suggested even any new or any impor-
tant point whatever. It may appear dogmatic, but
I give my opinion, quant. val., an opinion formed
upon a general knowledge of the construction of
" iron-clad," and " unclad," and " turreted," and so
forth, vessels of war ; and that I have read " all and
sundry" the accounts and reports, official and other,
published connected v 6 jar the affair at Hampton
Roads ; and the conclusion I have arrived at is, that
the Monitor may or may not be a great "improve-
ment," and be, as the New York journals in effect,
and some in words, describe her, as the greatest
war-ship " all creation," but there has been no
trialofheit'l
her in a bona jEcle sense.

She, as you are aware, came in at the end (vir-
tually) of thebusiness ; and only for the steam-tugs
which accompanied her in her voyage from New
_York to James River, would not (as the Irish phrase
would have it) have come in for "that same."
Because the "sea," which did not affect them
much, yet nearly put her fires and herself
hors de combat. And in relation to her
" Yard arm and yard aim fight" with the Merrimac,
I seek not to be hypercritical in. phrase in such
things. There were no masts nor yards in the
matter; but talz;ng. the term in the allegorical
sense—as a fact, the Monitor (probably very judi-
ciously and ski! fui!y) kt pt "dodging about" as far
from her rather -looking customer as the shoal
water permitted, ta..l that customer being the Mer-
rimac, which had bten fighting and firing the day
before, it appears to haw been forgotten by
most
commentators, to. the ey.haustion, mare or teas, of
crew, coals and ammunition, obviously h:gd no ob-
ject in continuing an encounter und'..r the circum-
stances. No doubt the Merrimag performed much,
but also it is evident she " stole &march" on the
United States vcssel.s, and on the authorities at Fort
Monroe. The New York papers have been mu-
tntilly accusing each other and excusing themselves
for having systematically persisted in despising that
said Merrimac. They stated for months before she
was " no good,". was "lop sided," would run 'tier
&e., &c. Howereer, she
rostrum into the mud,"
appears to have been well managed, but in an engi•
neering point of view it does appear, to me, with all
duo deference to the opinions given in Parliament
and elsewhere, but with soAne reliance on the facts
of the affair, that also, in reference to her, there
has been " too much talk about it."

Herantagonists were unprepared—some aground
and some ran aground—and as an important point
in considering the abstract question, but as no re-
proach (for there never was fault to find with the
skill or courage of the United States navy), the
sudden appearance of this new sort of craft did
" scare" them a little. Why, some of the "promi-
nent men" of this city itself are still " scared" at
the " idea" of a visit from her. Anyway, the firing
at her was most irregular and hurried, and possibly
any smart and equally well managed and fast-
steaming war vessel of wood or iron would have
done as much in the same time. However, there
has been, in my humble opinion, quite enough
" imagination" already, and 1 shall not add there•
to. -It appears to have escaped the notice. of the
-commentators in England that the Monitor used
cast, and not wrought, iron balls. It is stated,
that the latter,were considered too dangerous to
the guns on account of the rapid firing required.
If the Monitor had sustained without serious
daniage one broadside from a large man-of-war, or
a volley from a fort of large guns, that might have
entitled her to be considered the non-such all in
the New York and many in the British newspapers,
&c., appear to have determined her to be. All I
maintain is that _in the broad bona fide sense she
had no trial whatever of such importance as to con-
stitute her a " criterion or example."

How or why fortifications have been brought on
the Lapis quoad any results from or of this" Hamp-
ton Roads battle" appears to me also strange.
Probably some of the British public in reading the
rather poetical and diffuse accounts of the fight
imagined Fortress Monroe took part, whereas it
had no more say to it than the Tower of London.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
A BRITISH TRAVELLER.

From the accounts given after the first descrip-
tion of the " naval engagement," it appears several
of the lives lost on board the Congress are attribut-
able to Federal troops on shore firing on friend.
and foe when the steam-tug of the Merrimac was
alongside taking possession after the Congress had,
surrendered. I merely allude to the circumstance
to show that it would be unfair to judge of the
merits of the Merrimac altogether from the lostt
and damages sustained by her antagonists in the
encounter.