Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1857-03-11
RALEI GIL NoRTHCARoLINA WEDNESDAY, MARCH Il
The Navy Departnen,---sIr. Dobbin.

The Navy Department--.Ar. Dobbin.
The New York Journal Of Commerce-one of the
soundest and best journals in the countrY-thus al
ludes to the Navy Department and to the important
services rendered by Mr.. Dobbin. Commendation
from such quarter is indeed valuable:
"TnE NAVY Observation-Disclosures Pierce has
been more fortunate than some Of his predecessors
in the unity of his cabinet. Regarding the several
departments as coordinate branches Of the execu.
tive government, he has left them free to enforce
and carry out his administrative policy according to
the laws. While the rising sun commands our pa
triotic admiration gratitude should not be en-
tirely withheld from the sun which is quietly but
brilliantly setting
r Next to the Department of the Treasury-if in.
deed not with it before it-no one Of the exccu-
tive branches is more closely identified with the
great interests of commerce than that of the Navy
Department. 1t was we'll said BY Carlyle that "Com
merce is King" The country, therefore, owes to
Mr.. Secretary Dobbn many Acknowledgements for
the ability with which he has uniformly discharged
his arduous duties.
II ,ev, wing the history of the Navy Department
for the last four years. We discover progress in the
right direction, which it is to be hoped may not be
permitted to stop. In the department of ordnance
and gunnery great improvements have been made.
Judcious measures of preliminary character have
been adopted to secure for sea-Service supply Of
experienced seamcn, well qualified by training for
the exercise of heavy naval armament and for hav-
ing the ordnance of a ship at sea constantly under
the immediate supervision OF an officer detailed spe-
cay for the service. For schooling seamen to this
end, gunnery practiceship has been put in COM
mission at Washington, with an experimental COM
plement of heavy and light guns. The superior
utility of large shell-guns for hrstclass vessels in
stead of the old shot guhs of smaller cabre, Is no
longer probematca !; and it now only remains that
our men ocwar afoat may be amply provided with
all the well proved and positive inventions and dis
coveries in small arms which may be made from time
to time to render this branch Of the service emil
nenty efficient.
1t is to be regretted that the proposition forc
bly, urged by MIR. Dobbin in his annual report for
the constr uction of additional slools Of war, with
the auxiliary power Of steam, which from their COM
parative small draught Of water might be scrvicea-
bic on shallow coasts and within the ports Of our
southern scaboard has met with little Of legsla
tive favor. Unless this increase shall be made and
ihe old account kept good by raZeeng or repairing
the ships Of the.iine and such old rigates the
Brandy wire, Potomac, Savannah. and others now
lying at navy yard housed over and in ordinary,
nominal naval force must soon dwndle down to
half its apparent strength, and the vulnerable shoal
harbors upon our southern coast, which cannot be
penetrated and defended by vessels Of larger class
will continue to be without adequate protection.
Since the successful experiment Of razeeng the frg.
ates Macedonian and Constellation sloops of the
first class, the opinion prevails very generally that
all the old ships s-of ,he-line and the old frgates
next lower c!ass-and that the favortc English plan
should be adopted, of giving to those which may be
altered the auxiliary power Of steam whenever
their dimensions will permit it.
Perhaps the best feature of Mr.. Dobbin's admin
istration of the Navy Department has been his con-
slant and unrcmtting for scamcn The system
Of honorable discharges for good conduct, and the
law for increased pay Of seamcn, adopted by Con-
gresS under his recommendatiOn-the system of in
spccting supplies more closely at the several naval
Al
of Bureau Of Provisions and Clothng-that of man.
ufacturing the medicines required for ships use by
our navy surgeons, under the adviccs of the Chief
of the Medical Bureau--and the careful steps which
have been taken to have the companies o: ships
more comfortably Lerthed on board-each and al
have tendency to render the seaucn Of navy
not only contented and healthy, but wiling for
the most perilOus service.
Not the least of the monuments which Mr.. Dob
bin will leave to mark his secrearyShip the mag
nccnt six rigates, and the government foundries
at the navy-yards of New York, Boston, Washing
ton and Norfolk. These will be associated with
the recollection of his efficient naval administration
l, has ben too frequently the case that hew Sec
retares of the Navy, instead of taking up the SER
vice at the points OF reform and progress at which
their predecessors had arrived, have preferred to
begin and reconstruct the entire work foi
which they arc, of course, responsible to the
try. While we would not be obnoxious to the charge
of making inpertinrnt suggestions, must express
u hope that the successor Of Mr. Dobbin will com.
mcnce where his predecessor has left off, that the
apprentice system, which has thus far worked so
We'll and promises SO much Of substantial improve
ment, may be encouraged, and few Of the best oil
the youths thus apprenticed 10 the government an
nually admitted to the privileges of the Annapolis
Academy that the cruises of our ships Of war may
be limited to two instead Of three years and thai
sean,ea shall not be detained in service on foreign
stations and beyond the period of their enlist
mcnt.
We are we'll assured from the statements Of the
incoming President, already expressed. that he will
not fail 10 care for the navy the guardian oil our
foreg commerce; and we trust that the new Sec
retary, whoever he may be, will in most respects
carry out the work so well begun by his predecessor"
The Cincinnati Equirer thus happily shifts Of the
rank hypocrisy of the Chief Magistrate Of Ohio who
while his miserable African constituents CONCEAL TO
death in their frozen beds from the fuel famine is
urging the legislature to make appror ration from
the treasury in aid of bleeding Kansas" The
E9uirer says:
"Sterne tells of sentimental philanthropist, who
left his z anmother to die Of want, and was found
weeping over dying in the road. Governor
Chase is greatly exercised by the distress of the
Free State people Of Kansas and proposes that Ohio
shall make appropriation for their relief, while he
has not word for the suffering poor of Cincinnati,
during the present cold weather. when Goals is forty
cents a bushel and wood $l2 cord and when there
are Black Republicans in the city who have been
enticed from comfortable homes in the South by the
false promises of Amboliton demagosues. whose suf-
ferings far surpass those of the Free State patriots
of Kansas"