Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-05-15

began to be shorn of her liberties and Of her
territory when she neglected to maintain her
fleets. England, the most liberal of al Gouern.
mens save our own, is in no small degree
indebted tor her present position to the fact that
she maintains only small military force in the
British islands, aud relies upon her wooden
walls as means Of attack and defence. She
puts no faith in large standing armies and will
not until her people shall be prepared to surren.
der their freedom, With her garrisoned pos.
sessions encirclng the globe, her entire military
establishment does not exceed one hun.
dred and twenty thousand men. France
Aus ria, Russia, Prussia maintain large standing
armies on their soil and in those countries the
liberty of the people is mea,ured by the will of
the sovereign. The freedom they enjoy is the
gratuity OF emperors and kings the servitude
they endure is enforced by the presence Of
standing armies.
do not believe that any body but the public
enemy has had anything to fear from the mum
erous and well-appointed armies we have raised
yet no one OF us is prepared to say that, with
an army much longer isolated from home scenes
and home ideas, concentrated in large bodies
and taught the duty of implicit obedience to
their superiors, danger to our free institutions
might no arise. No such niger can arise from
the existance of q navy, however large, or how
ever commanded. Seamen are cosmopoitans.
Always employed, and generally ahoat, they
never become, as armies sometimes do, as dam
gerous TO friends in time of peace as to enemies
in time OF war.
might 60 on and show that, situated as all OF
our large cities are npon arms of the sea or upon
navigable rivers, the Navy might be made more
efficient in snppressing domestic Instructions
as well as in repelling foreign invasions, than
the Army. might show, too, that, notwithstan
ding much that has been said by professed stat
sticians, the support OF navy is less expen.
sive, in comparison with the service it renders
to maritime nation, than tina; of an army. But
l shall not detain the Senate by at tempting to
enter upon such an exposition at this time.
AS said at the outset Mr. President, nv
purpose in rising to address the Senate at this
time was to call the attention of the country to
the successful operations of the western fotilla !;
but cannot refrain from alludng, for one mo
ment, before close, to the successes of our
Navy elsewhere in this war. The whole south
eastern Atlantic coast has been swept by the
feet of the gallant Dupont, and is now effect
ualy held by both an inside and an outside block
ade. The enemy have been driven from the
waters of North Carolina by Goldsborough,
their whole navy in that quarter DESTROYED, and
their coast towns occupied. Such progress has
been made in the Gulf of Mexico, that ven.
tare to predict that in few days at furthest,
intelligence will reach US that the forts at the
mouth of the Mississippi river have been cap.
tured, and that Farragut and Porter are now, or
soon will be, in possession of New Orleans.
Bnt the startling eyenss thai have receptly &C,
the attention Of ALL Il would be we'll for 70
reflect upon what those events have clearly De.
monstraled. They are:
H..
sailing vessels are perfectly harmless and help
less.
Second, that the strongest stone Notifications
can be no obstruction to the entrance of iron.
clad vesses-of war into our harbors and that
one or two such vessels, unopposed by vessels of
a similar character, can hold any commercial
city on the continent at their mercy.
Third that we can now commence the creation
of proper navy, upon footing of compare.
tive equality with all the naval powers of the
world.
Mr.. President, no man sympathizes with the
relatives and friends of the gallant dead who
perished on the Congress and Cumberland more
deeply than do. Perhaps however, their loss
was necessary to teach us our true path of duty
to the country. Let us not suffer more valuable
lives to be periled upon such worthless vessels
and while we deplore the loss of so many brave
men, let US rejoice that SO many more are left to
the service who are willing to do and die fol
their country. Especially let us give thanks for
the brilliant example of courage, seamenshp
and patriotism furnished to the country and tc
the world by that matchless officer Lieu utenani
John l.. Worden, and the officers and men
under his command on board the Monitor. In
that unexampled engagement of Sunday last
after terribly sutfocatng and dangerous pass
oua from Maui Ynrk without hoy oyiuu Silent with
an undrilled crew, and handling an untried ex'
pertinent, Lieutenant Worden and his crew
performed prodigies Of kill and valor that viii
reuder all on board the Monitor immortal. They
will be immortal not for their valor alone
Who shall undertake to estimate the influence
that battle will exert upon all of the maritime
Powers of the earth? Who shall undertake tt
tell the number of homes to which the news o
its successful result carried quiet on that eventfu
| evening, which had been for hours disturbed b,
| the most distractng fears? Is it too much Il
| say that it rescaed our commerce and our com
| mercial cities from ravage and in one hour com
| pigtely revolutionized all systems of naval ar
| chitecture and naval warfare? Captain Ericsso
too, may well be proud of the place his nam
will henceforth occupy in the history OF nautica
science, and we may well be proud that the coun
try of our birth is the country of his adoption.
| but, Mr. GreSlueDt, Wnfic Wouiu tHus Houo
the gallant living, would bear my tribute Q
atfectionate respect for the memory of the her
oc dead who fell in the engagement in Hamr
ton Roads. Let the remembrance of tba brav
young officer, whose obsequies are now being PEI
formed in another part of this city, who, whe
| his vessel was sinking beneath his feet, reptile
| to a summons TO surrender, that he would nevt
| give up the flag entrusted to his keeping, an
| the mex moment met death with composure,
cherished by his contrymen. The name
Smith, already ilustrious in the annals of th
American navy, will be added to the brlgl
galaxy of those who have freely laid down the
| lives at the call of their country.
Mr.. President, the nation has cause to
proud of thu Navy let it be honored and mail
tanned.
The annual cost of maintaining
ship.o .of-the-line, fully equipped, is S3o2
| ono e. c;uoto &1q5 OOO. of n slOOr