Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1856-12-23
THE NAyY-ITs ACHIEVEMENTS.

and men cruising in that sea- We turl, with pleasure
from the yac!iing Of the Mediterranean squadron to
notice il betting terms splendid naval achieve
ment on 4 very different theatre.
Some eighteen months ago, Capt. McCluney, when
cruising in tho China Seas, in command Of tho l.. s.
Steamship fowhatan, was requested by the com
'nanding officer Of an English Nayu! iurce to aid ir
expedition agsinst The pirates nfes,ng those
With this request Capt. McCluney readily complied
and despatched Lieut.. Robert Is. Pesrnn, the frat
lieutenant of his ship, with such forces rs could be
spared.
The expedition was nominally under the command
of Commander Fellows of the Royal Navy, but from
the superior force Of the American contingent was
really commanded by Lieut.. Pesram. Having de-
,ached two boats English and American, to pursue
ajunk sseH issking her escape, tho expedition con-
tinued IFS search for the enemy, and on suddenly
rounding point came full upon them. Tho Chi
nese force consisted Of about thirty junks, armed
with three hundred guns Of heavy calihre many Le.
ing thirty-two FOUNDERS, and manned by about three
thousand men.
The Ango-American expedition comprised light
boat carrying Commander Fellows, with fifteen or
twenty men, armed with Minnie rifles and Two
heavy boats from the Powhatan, one commanded by
Lieut. PeSram in person, and the other by his second
IN command, Lieut.. Rolsndo. Each OF these boats
had htty men, and boat gun OF construction in
tr"duced into ;he service by Lieut.. Dahl;rcn sincs
the Mexican war. These guns throw small shells
filled with mnske balls, known by the name of the
inventor, Col. Shrspnell Of the English Army, and
are constructed 10 be used either as boat guns or fed
pieces Thsir Introduction into the service was
novelty, aud we believe that this was the FIRST op-
portuny for testing their merit. When the small
Anglo American expedition came suddenly upon
their formidable enemy, the seamen at the oars, with
out orders, ard by common impulse, stretched OUT
and the boats were headed directly for the Chinese
t!est Such was the apparent madness Of the attack
that Commander Fellows rose tw cs ,n order tho expe.
di.ion back, but being satisfied that his orders
would not be obeyed, lie permitted things to take their
course. Being without artillery. he could make but
| little impression, moreover his boat was sunk or
capSlzed early in the action, and although he aud his
men displayed great g,antry, it is not probable that
they rendered material hid to our boats.
The brunt Of the fight fell upon .hs boats Of the
| Powhaan, and most beroc.ly was il borne. Tie
boats were seered righ: in,p the storm OF fire inmo
| diatey opened upon them. The howzers were fred
rapidly from the bows ef tue boats without checking
their speed, and each bbat she advanced. poured
m incessant stream of Sharpne upon the enemy.
The shell, bursting on board Of thu iunks crowded
with men, did fearful execution, lestrange 10 say
the hail Of cannon shot poured Ipan the boats mias
ed them entirely. This wa, owing not only to the
small surface presented by each boat she approach
ed but also to .hs strength Of the powder used by
the Chinese. Unsccus;cned to such ammuntion'
they overloaded their guns, which consequently
! coed tremendously, y,-hew their muzzcs up fred
| too high, and were frequently disnounted. Taking
position under the stern of junk, OF boats
would swespher decks with Sharpne and then board.
The result was on the part Of the enemy, the ioss
destruction Of ten or twelve juuks and the lo's OF
about six hundred men on our side, the capture of
the enemies vessels and their prizes, aud loss i'll
killed and wounded of ahou. third of our force
Sine. the war of 1919, the navy has done nothing
| ,,.-.bie 10 this achievement. We even go TAR
,ner and maiHtnin that 20 battle of modern time has
been fought With greater disparity of force.
If we may be permitted TO compare small things
merit the fight with tie Chinese pirates excclled the
"
in Iudia.
| Give, with three thousand nsn, defeated Surejah
DoHlahs army sixty thousand strong. Fellows, Pc
gram and Rolando, with hundred and TWEEN.
~ men, defeated three thousand Chinese. The odd.
were about the same. But many of the ene,ny op.
posed to Give were armed with swords, pixies bow3
and arrows only; While the Chinese had arms nearly
eGual to our Gwn and were provided with the bes;
English powder. The Indian army Of Snrej.h Dow
la were go situated that they could escape, and made
such good use Of this advantage that they lost but
five hundred men and killed and wounded seventy.
Two of their adverssries. The Chinese pirates wvre
on board ship where flight was difficult, and conse-
quently they were compelled to fight; their loss was
therefore twenty fold greater !a. that Of tho Indian
army, and they indicted loss fourteen tmes as great
in proportion on their enemy. The Indian army act
cd on the offensive, ana we're forced to attack Give
in position chosen by himself. Tho Chinese -eceiy
cd the attack chiefly at anchor snd in tine bes. stas
ton for using their artillery.
The political consequences Of the tro battles
certaiuy far different One saved the British I'm
pire in Iudia-the other only saved, far time It's
commerce aud the trade Of other nations IN the Chi
M seas. But the merit OF battle ia not to be
Judged by its political results, and the reward of
military conduct never depends the political con.
sequences of the battle
Give was rewarded both a. statesman and q sol
der. Honors were beaped on him, aad, what he
probably valued quite much, treasure filed hs
Golfers. There no limit 10 his acquisitions but
his own moderation. lie walked between heaps of
gold AID silver crowned With rubies and was at lib
erty to help himself. lie accepted between two and
three hundred thousand pouuIs.''
Commander Fellows, with the polite iberalty Of the
British government prouoedi and it is said that
even The officers of the Brsh boat, detached before
the battle, were promoted.
The American officers, with the gratitude said to
be characteristic Of republics, were left with ae con
scicusnsss Of good conduct ss tne. sole reward
Not c genera! orde: acknowledged their services;
ucs q Gw crd or resolution Of thsuis vcuchsafed
as q memorial Of their yaor.
Lieut.. Rolando had the f1rtune, with or without
casse, to he retired b. the Naval Board. A portion
@: the press, opposed to the board and probably
quite mach frcm motives of hostility to ii from
regard 20 him, eu'ogz=d his galaniry il deserved.
Lieut.. Psgram, ths commander in fact Of the expei-
ton, who trained his boa; gun throughout the tsttie
with his own hands, who IVES wounded by III
English paior while attempting 70 cave the life Of
Ii.ea eaeny, and who deserves not lees credit for his
humanity tEGn for .splendid courage and his in
parable modes'y, not having the fortune to be vic.
tirn;zed By The Navy Board, is Jeff in entire obscurity
We have heard that complimentary letters we're ad.
dressed to him by Commander Fellows and the British
Admiral in the China ssas; and that his cosduct
actually nude the subject Of communication ;rcm
the English Government to ogE but INT one line
from these le:tsTs has teen published
We blame ore, ior the ainiple reason that We do
not knoy who is In fault. But we say, without fear