The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-24
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER "a. 1858.

case of the King of Bohemia was particularly to
he commiserated, because with both the ability
and the DISPOSITION TO become frst-class naval
mower His Majesty had not single seaport, or
so much rs hafa yard of sea-coast, in any part
of his dominions. The case of the UNITED STATES
woud seem to show, that even with the posses
sion of those advantages Of which the Bohemian
monarch stood in need, and with the addition of
every possible incentive to make use of them,
which high-spirted and maritime people can
have, a nation may yet signally fail to turn them
to any reasonable or satisfactory account. The
shifts to which Government has been lately put
in order to get up Naval Expedition against the
little Republic of Paraguay, conclusively demon
strate this melancholy, but indisputable fact.
Six months ago, that expedition was resolved
upon and ordered TO be got in readiness. A few
weeks ago we announced the departure from our
shores of portion of the feet The rest will follow
when found. Just now, it does not seem TO be
even settled what vessels shall constitute the
balance of the squadron, or whether, indeed, any
vessels at all can be had for the purpose. OF
those already engaged, q considerable number,
as is well known, are merchant steamers, char
tered by Government expressly for this Expe-
diton. Not one of them appears to have been
at all suited for the purpose. Some of them per-
haps, may have been partially made to suit after
extensive alterations and repairs, and at heavy
expense. Others, again, that have been once re-
jected and condemned, as unfit and unseaworthy,
have been patched and mended, and now await
a second survey and another examination on the
part of the naval authorities. With the owners of
two of them, the new steamers Canada and
America, the Secretary is now higgling about
the sum of $40, 900, which, it is said, will be
required in order to adapt them to the purposes of
the Department, and which Government and
the owners mutually object to paying.
The revenue-cutter Harriet Lane, and the practice
ship Preble have been detached from their re-
spective stations, and added to the squadron;
while, to complete the list, the dock-yards of the
UNION have been dragged for all the odds and
ends, curosities and antiquities of naval arch-
lecture which they might chance to contain.
Nothing but the superior skill and seamanship
of the gallant men who go out in them will enable
some of these vessels to reach the mouth of La
Plaa. OF those that have already sailed, the
flagship Sabine, of the staunchest frigates in
the navy, has been compelled to put into the Ber-
mudas in distress, having barely escaped founder
ing in gale and the coal-ship Messenger is report
ed''at St. Thomas with loss of two of her masts
Then, after the rendezvous is reached, what pro-
portion of the squadron will be able to get within
sight even of the territories of Paraguay, is a
problem yet to be solved. The Sabine, St. La,c-
renee and other large vessels it is clear will not
be able to come within one thousand miles of the
enemy-a most convenient distance truly and one
even more respectable than that at which Mr..
Commissioner REED was compelled to contemplate
the operations of the Allies in the Canton River,
from the decks of the Minnesota, until he too
"chartered" seamer-a British one--the Ante
lope. No vessel drawing over nine feet of water,
it is said, can reach Paraguay. The Westernport
and the Caledonia, two of the steamers specially
hired for this Expedition, because of their light
ness of draught and consequent supposed adapta-
tion TO the service, draw eleven feet. Granting,
however, that some of the vessels of the Expedi-
ton do reach Paraguay, and do come within
range OF the batteries which, we are told, line
both banks of the river, and constitute the main
defence of its Capital, how many of them, we wish
to know-at least how many of those that have
been built for the peaceful purposes of traffic, and
whose timbcrs were never expected to undergo any
severer buffetings than those of the winds and
waves, will be able TO stand the shock and strain
of their own guns in action, TO say nothing of the
enemy's shot? These are all contingencies, we
are aware, against which the Department has en-
doc to +Io
but that best has been but little That there are
no suitable vessels in the Navy for the purposes of
the Paraguay Expedition is certainly not the fault
of the Secretary. 1t may be, in Il measure how
ever that of the Administration. No one can
doubt but that at the last session, particularly
when popular and Congressional Indignation was
at fever-heat on the subject of British tout
RACES" in the Gulf of Mexico, one half of that
Executive pressure which was brought to bear
upon the Houses for the purpose of forcing through
them the Lecompton Bill would have sufficed to
obtain from them appropriation for as many
Steamships and gun-boats as might have been
needed. 1t is true, perhaps that those vessels
could not have been got ready by the present time,
and that it would have been necessary, therefore,
to defer the Expedition for another season-but
better far its postponement than its failure The
present armament reflects no credit upon the coun-
try, and is little likely to impress either South
Americans, or Europeans, with favorable idea of
our naval strength and resources. There are few
maritime powers of any magnitude that could not
have concentrated in the waters of La Plata,
within a much less space of time, much
larger and better appointed fleet than that which
we have just been at SO much pains and trouble TO
equip. Not to allude to such naval Powers as
England and France; even "degenerate'' Spain
has added to her Navy within the past twelve
months, more Ships and better ones because
built expressly for the service and with all
the Improvements of modern science, than Commo-
dore SHUBRICK has, or is likely to have, under his
We hope that this subject will be brought before
both Houses of Congress at the approaching ses-
sion, and that they will not again adjourn without
making some adequate provision for the wants of
the Navy, and the absolute necessities of the Ser
vice. We hope that public affairs and naval
affairs will receive from them some small portion
of that attention which has hitherto been exclu-
sivey bestowed upon the affairs of Kansas, and
which, at the next session, may possibly be some
what in want of subject. We hope that the
of a little judicious economy
in some departments of Government expenditure
will enable Congress to exercise wise liberality
in others. In the single department of Public
Printing, money enough is actually wasted every
year to pay for the construction of several excel
lent steamers. Let Honorable Members only be
content with fewer costly books to distribute
among their constituents and fewer reticules and
"ladies companions" to give away to their sweet
hearts and wives, and then, perhaps the nation
will be able to afford gunboat or two, without
being brought to the verge of bankruptcy And
if any money should be thus appropriated, let us
profit by our experience and appropriate it judi
ciously. At least let us have no more such expen-
sive toys rs the Wabash and the Minnesota, until
we have first secured ''musquito leet' of light
steamers and gun-boats so that the recurrence, at
any future PERIOD of emergencies similar to the
present may not End US similarly unprovided and
As The american of yesterday alluded with
cautious solemnity 10 the ''scenes of strife and
fbloodshed which are enacted by the various law
tqess and riotous organizations amongst u.s., the