Southern shield., 1854-09-30
From tie Btfato (N. Y. ) Patriot s. Journai.
 Hands of!

The Navy department has lately adopted the practice of razeeing our large vessels of war. The 1acedo- ,oian, avery respectable looking frig- ate, rated at 38 guns, and carrying A, whose capture by DECATUR on the
 United StateS we have been exulting over for forty years a 9 brilliant nay Il achievement, has bfen cut down to orny y'fH OoE ara'; r,''',.e.-az la aeon ry 1t has been done, nevertheless. It IS easy to see that advantage will be taken of the circumstance by the Eng fish. Our naval victories in the war of 1912 sat intentionally on the proud stomach of John Bull; and the English press always insisted that their ships were never conquered except when the disparity of force was large ! ly against them. This was true to a certain extent in the action between single ships. Our first class frigateS were considerably superior in metal and men to the British vessels of the same
 nominal size. The Consultation was
 at least one-sixth heavier than the Guerrtere. This difference, however,
 was not sufficient to account for the
 very summary manner in which Com.
 HULL knocked his antagonist to pieces,
 and compelled her to strike her flag
 But John Bull has always maintained
 the contrary, and has always claimed
 that whatever advantages we gained
 were owing wholly to the fact that
 they were ovelmatched in size and
 strength. And for the purpose of con
 veying that impression to the people,
 the American frigate President, cap
 tured by a fleet off the coast of Long
 Island, and taken to England, was
 lightened of her guns and ballast, and
 placed alongside British frgate of
 the same rate, heavily laden, in order to sink her deep in the water, and thus show striking difference inthe size of the ships. Cutting the Macedonian , down to a sloop, and showing her in that condition in British waters, will controversy, and enable John Bull to 5 make out a plausible case against us, 3 at least with his own people. He will X pretend, without fear of contradiction I at home, that the frigate Macedonian, t captured by DECATUR, for which ex- ploit that gallant sailor received the : thanks of Congress and a sword, was really nothing but the 20 gun sloop, |, which now forms a part of the Ameri- can navy. And it is not unlikely that we shall be treated to homiies upon
 the braggart propensities of Brother
 Jonathan. We wish, therefore, that
 this trophy of our arms had been pre-
 served as near its original condition as possible.
 Cutting down the Constellation, the gallant frigate in which the brave old
 TAUNTON fought a French ship of twice
 her size, and successfully too, is in worse taste still. She was clean go-
 ing, crack ship of her grade, and in
 consideration of the laurels she had aided to win, ought to have been saved from the innovating hand of the new
 constructors in the service. But MT.
 DOZEN probably cares no more for old
 Ironsides, the glorious old ConStitu- lion, than for the mail steamboat that runs from Washington down to Aquia Creek. However, there is no dang CT of her being broken up. The very suggestion would make greater com motion iii the service than was wrought in the British navy by the mutiny at
 the Nore.