Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-02-26
COndItion OF the Navy-Report OF the
uouRS COv,nynIFfee


House Committee.
The New York World, remarking on the
report of the select Committee appointed
by the House of Representatives, to In
quirc iato the condition of the Navy, says.
This report reveals some rather startling
! facts connected with the administration Of
that department, aud facts that may 20
far 70 show that AIr. Toucey, if not actual
!. " guilty of treassnable practices, has not
! been At all times actuated by a faithful de-
ToIiOl to the interests OF the government
whose servant he is, and of whose mate
rialfavors he has beeu the recipient. II
be be guildesS Of direct conniving with
the men who are moving heaven and earth
70 overthrow the government, helmay con-
slider himself the victim of q most singu-
lar chain of circumstances leading directly
to such conclusion.
For example is it not remarkable that
nearly every effective war yesselUf the ma
W should be sent into distant seas, alta
time when civil commoiion and defiance
of the authority Of the government reigns
along the entire gulf coast and an i'm
portaut portion Of our Atlantic seaboari !?
when the rights Of property, public
and private, are being trtmpled upon by
violent mem and overt actgof hostility
Is against the government threatened b.
formidable combinations, headed Upstate
exerudVeS? Issit not remarkable that our
entire seAboard should be left utterly de-
fenseless under such peculiar cirCumstan-
ces-more defenaeless than it has been
deemed wise to leave it when there were
neither threateniugs from within nor from
without, since our navy became poEer2
Yet it Is shown that efficient var vessels
were dispatched TO stations beyond imme-
diate recall, even after tue plot to destroy
the Government became manifest. And it
is shown that when this administration in
the navy department had disarmed our
sea-eoaSt, and practically disabled our
Government from upholding the laws and
enforcing its authority, that moment law
less combinations sprang into existence,
organized and eager to trample on tho
laws and defy the authority of the Federal
Government.
1t is further shown that We have at
present lying in our ports, and disabled
from immediate service, twenty eight yes-
sells of war, mounting an aggregate Of
nearly nine hundred guns, a sufficient
number of which for the protection of the
public property on our seaboard could
have been fitted tor sufficient service in
naked fact of treason staring him In the
face, every waking hour of his life for
months, has refused to put these vessels
on war footing: and suffered the dis
grace of the national flag to go un-
punished, until. men begin to ask, and
justly too, If this magnificent fabric, which
cost so much blood and treasure to es-
tablish, and which has lifted us to tue
height of prosperity as a nation. is really
a substantial thing, capable of defending
itself from overthrow by mobs, or only u
Shadow, which has only not melted away
because not heretofore brought 10 the test.
How Mr.. Toucey, and those who sympa-
thize with rebellion, may look upon such
conduct, we have no means of asrertaining;
bat the Law abiding people of the United
States will name it more than fragrant
neglect; they will call it treason, and SO
write It IN their books, and the name of
Toucey willgo down to infnmy linked with
the only more Infamous Floyd.