Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1858-09-11

4Ati AANnH thI lIuAtf llUiu AllSQOu ~
MarseiIles, he has been the recipient Of dis
tingushed consideration from public officers
and private citizens. At Gibraltar the Sc
uor officer in command Of the British ma
val forces at that point extended marked
courtesies, and urged the ex-President and
Mrs Pierce to take passage for TOngicrs
in one Of her Majesty's public armed yes
sels. At Marseilles the French authori-
ties, headed by the Project and the militia
ry commander, were especially attentive
and Jealous in act of hospitality"
A LAuenApLE NAvv.--Mr. Secretary Tou-
cey must be very agreeable man. During his
recent tour Of visitation to the navy yards, be
was not only irresistably funny himself, but was
the occasion of great fun in others. His iuno.
cent Joke at Brooklyn about the economy OF
making ropes there, where the oakum is made,
was as good or better than if the joke had been
Intentional. And it is said that be was very
much amused in hearing the story of the Sabine,
which, though one of the oldest vessels ia the
navy, has never been put to sea- She was put
on the stocks IN l6l9 was over thirty years in
building. and nine more 10 being fitted for sea,
aud now she is out of daIe and not worth launch
ing. This ia q 6rst class practical joke. No
wonder secretary Toucey shook his comfortable
sides 10 the contemplation oft Then the Joke
was repeated with variations at the other navy
yards and by the time Mr.. 1'Oucey has compile
ted bis tour Of observation he must grown ex-
ceedingly Jolly. The Alabuma, seventy four,
was oO the stocks at Portsmouth twenty years
ago and she is there still The New Orleans,
unfinished and rooted in, has been a show at
Sacketts' Harbor these forty years The New
Y ork, at Norfolk, is hardly nearer completion
than she was in 1887. The Vermont aud Vir-
gina have been standing on the stocks in
Charlestown navy yard while whole genera
ton OF contemporary ships have been built, u.s. d
and grown rotten Aud these have partly rot
ted on the stocks, and the old timbers have been
replaced And to make the joke more perfect,
they are now of no earthly use. Their model
has grown antiquated; they are a slow, unwield.
ly craft, and the navy would be weaker with
than without them. The efficiency OF the navy
lies in the cIipper-modeled, fastsailiog war
steamers, such as our ship carpenters build for
other nations. These old pensioners ON the
stocks, as a matter of economy, had better be
set fire to and burnt on the spot. Perhaps this
occurred to the secretary, aud be was Imagining
to thiuk what splendid blaze of glory could
be got out of the useless things in that way
all this is very amusing as showing the strange
and comical way in which our naval affairs are
managed. To get the highest possible enjoy
ment out of the thing, we would suggest to the
laughing secretary that he set his clerks at work
TO hunt up the statistics ofthese old hulks. Let
US have their original cost let us have the
amounts paid to the successive contractors du-
ring the half century while they were in process
of building; the items annually set down for re-
pairs; the cost Of the roofs that protect them
from the weather. and the salaries of the men
that keep watch over them day and night A
very pretty little comic romance might be made
out of the affair. II could be issued in yellow
covers, and illustrated with pictures with title
something like The Leviathans of the United
States Mayor Millions for Fun but not a
cent for use." The book would sell--iudeed the
postmasters might be politely and forcibly re-
quested to circulate it at their own expense
and the proceeds could be devoted to the pnr
chase Of a small steamer, capable Of service in
the Gulf il fanother British Styx should hereafter
presume to annoy our commercial marine. 1t
would be good thing for you--hal hal Mr..
Toucey. Springfield Rep.