The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-01-19

themselves.
OFFERING TIE MILITIA To THE GENERAL Gov
ERNMENT.--The States of New York, Rhode
Island and Maine, and Major General Sanford,
have offered the services of the militia, horse,
foot, dragons and artillery body of men
over whom they have no particular control
to the general government for the purpose of
putting down revolution in the, South. If New
York, Rhode Island, Maine and General Sand
ford would only undertake to do something
practical to settle the difficulty which is hasten
ing the country to civil war and destruction, as
perhaps they might, it would be an act to be
more thankful for than offering the military
arm for purposes of coercion with so much
alacrity.
As to General Sandford's offer of the First
division, it appears to meet with almost uni
versal dissatisfaction. Some of the best Off
GERS in the division intend to resign in conse-
quence of it. The proceeding on the whole
was absurd and childish, because it was wholly
unnecessary; for Gov. Morgan, as Commander
in-Chief of the whole State militia, can COM
mand the services Of the First division, and
every other division, to perform such duty as
the law imposes on them, without any tender
of service from their general; and he cannot
compel them to perform any other duty, either
with or without General Sandford's generous
offer OF the services of men whom, it appears,
he did not consult in the matter. Apart from
the mischievous tendency of such a course of
action in the present excited condition Of the
public mind, General Sandford's offer and
Gov. Morgan's acceptance of the services of
the militia prove two things first, that &C.
neral Sanford does not understand his duties
as soldier; and second, that Gov. Morgan, the
Commander-n-Ch of the State army does
not know his duty as a soldier, in accepting
the offer Professionally in the terms he did.
The PERns or STEAM NAVIGATION, AND THEIR
REMEDIEs.-An official report has recently been
presented to the English Board of Trade on
the loss of the steamship Connaught, which,
although il throws no new light on the origin
of the accident that led to her destruction, en-
bodies several suggestions which, if adopted,
would tend greatly to diminish the number of
similar casualties
In ocean steamers q large amount of respon-
sibility devolvcs upon the chief and assistant
engineers, from the fact that the captain and
msecs have but little if any practical acquaint-
ance with steam machinery. The consequence
i divided command on the ship, the people
of the engineers department being under the
control of their own officers. We need not
point out the mischievous tendency of such a
state OF things when vessel happens to be
placed in circumstances of danger. If the en-
gincers of steamships were properly qualified
for their duties, and could always be relied
upon there might be some advantage in render
ing them to a certain extent Independent Of
the captain. Unfortunately they are but too
often imperfectly educated in their speciality,
and when accidents occur in connection with
the machinery Of vessel they are the last TO
detect and remedy them
Some few OF our American captains have had
such unpleasant experiences of this fact that
they will not accept the command of sea-
going steamer without STIMULATING that the en-
ginccrs shall be entirely under their control.
An accident once occurred on board the steam
chip Pacific which might have resulted in the
loss of the vessel but for the decision of its
commander, Captain Nye. He was aroused
late at night by the information that the
engine room was filing with water, and
that the engineers could not detect where it
came from On going down he at once said
that some part of the machinery must be In
fault, al the water that was rising around the
boiler was cold, and tho vessel was new aud