The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-07-16

tbity and despatch Of businesss II Is better In
MINES like this that the different branches Of the
k6vernment are administered by men Of the high
1t order Of business qualification, even though
neeompsnied with some of the most bsrsfaoed
NJ unsorupulous speculations that ever dis
tseed an administration, than to have perfect
h08eeN and imbecility
a. proof Of this position let us take the pres
H condition of the Navy and War Departments
@he latter, which our contemporaries are making
odn bitter accusations against, is all activity
Wearly three hundred thousand men have been
armed and equipped and placed at the disposal
pf theCommander-in-C hief-every branch of the
Department, all the necessary machinery con-
N(eed with 1t, in successful operation, and every
ming in satisfactory condition, unless it is the
Eps6Ciations of the jobbers. By its energy and
4espatch the national capital has been saved,
md the means placed in General SCOTS
&aqds that have enabled him to already
Zeal stunning blow to the rebellion.
Had the same energy, despatch and bust
Peg talent been displayed in the Navy De-
eaftuent, the public would not have been
appalled, at the destruction Of property at tls
Norfolk Navy Yard, and the loss & sa;iiiAAA-
Yhsre. Neither would any Of 49, ~
fatsers have hsen 8 20 numerous pr,
Aant,,re o,,r ,g.r -.uie to run the blockade and
tsi,,e5 i, .erchant vessels, with their cargoes,
,UA} i the aggregate at millions.
n 20 have no doubt that Gideon Welles, the
gentleman who presides over the NAVY depart
sesns, Is Gle OF our extra honest men, and WIN,
Pot knowingly enter into a contract with any
parties that will give them an opportunity TO
TOD the government of the first farthinp: but
Fnlist having this extra honest qualification, he
Z ennreiy destitute of TIE energy and business
activity Eeon:..site to administer the Department
the present emergency. Suppose; for in
Stafce, that he had Immediately at the outbreak
=. sns war chartered large number of our
swiftest merchant steamers, and placed large
apough force without delay at the Gosport
Navy Yard to man the men-ofwar and pro
rect the property there, instead Of having
1t burned, causing loss Of Eve millions
10 the government, to say nothing Of
The implements of war that have by
that unfortunate affair fallen into the hands Of
The rebels. he used against the Union army
'Rt all points Ut would have been much better
and far more tcreditable that some band of
spectators had coolly robbed the government
pf million Of dollars in steamer contracts than
70 have had that calamity befall us as it
Did. The same may be said in regard to the
BLOCKADE Had the Secretary of the Navy pos
f3essed any other qualification but his extra
honesty he'would have Immediately, upon the
heels of the proclamation closing the Southern
ports, chartered vessels enough, even at high
prices to have rendered the egress or ingress o.
vessels at any port, bay, inlet or creek in the
peoeded States an impossibility; and in no con-
tingency should we have been called upon to
give such detailed accounts of the capture of
our merchant vessels as we gave yesterday,
causing tenfold more damage than the govern
&nent could possibly have sustained by the spe-
oulations through high priced charters
/, FSecretary Cameron had acted upon the same
principle. or been wanting in the necessary bust
meas talent, and instead of hurrying troops and
supplies to the national capitalmovedin the same
email like pace, the rebels would have seized
Washington with all the ease that they now
capture schooners, causing loss of at least
twenty millions to the government, to say
nothing of the probable immediate recognition
of the Southern coniederacy by foreign Powers
and the loss of blood and treasure that it would
have taken to recapture it. Now, all this cry OF
corruption. amounts to nothing when compared
to what has been saved by the activity of the
War Department, which gave the spectators
on opportunity to line their pockets, and will
ip the end. prove to be mere dribblngs of the
total COST of the war. 1t shows, furthermore
Chat of the two evils, honesty and imbeclity, or
energy, activity and peculation, the latter is by
far the cheapest in the end in emergencies like
Che present. Give us an energetic officer,
though his very activity furnishes the army
worm an opportunity to rob the government,
rather than imbecility. This is the best and the
only excuse that we have to offer for the cor
ruptons and speculations that have turned up
by virtue Of the energetic administration of the
War Department.
neopening OF the Winter Garden.