The New York herald., 1862-04-20
The Fright or England.

IL 10 only by comparison that we can at all
estimate and appreciate the immense revolu-
ton inaugurated by the debut of the Monitor in
Hampton Roads. The tone which England
assumed towards Us at the time of the Trent
affair was vastly different from that to which
our invention Of iron-clad ships, batteries and
boats has compelled her. Then, she clustered
ranted and stormed furiously. Now, she is
content to take lessons in warfare, and humbly
learn from the very nation she before threatened
| to annihilate.
| Our readers cannot have forgotten the ut
terances of the English press, and the proceed
ings of the English government, at the time
when the arrest Of couple of bogus rebel am
bassadors alarmed the world with the prospect
of terrible International war. The British
| lion bristled his name wrathfully in England,
wagged his tail ferociously in the Canadas, and
breathed forth threatenings and slaughter
through the London Times and Post The Eng
lish government stopped the export of villanous
saltpetre to this country, ordered eighty ships
of-war to this side the Atlantic. and transported
several regiments Of soldiers to Canada.
| The once famous but now obsolete Warrior was
| fitted out by hands working night and day, and
| the Tower Of London was transformed into
vast laboratory for the manufacture of ammu-
milton. John Bull pointed menacingly to all
these preparations, and declared that if Slidell
and Mason were not returned the Warrior would
knock New York to o"pieces, while ten thousand
British soldiers were capturing the rest Of this
blasted and outrageous country
Not many months after this tremendous dis
play of furious bombast we had little naval
engagement at Hampton Roads, and the aspect
of affairs changed considerably. The first shot
from the Monitor rebounded from the Merri-
mac, but struck the British Warrior and de-
molished it completely, while before the echoes
of her cannon had died away oil the wooden
walls and stone forts of England tumbled
down like houses built of cards. The tail of
tie British lion is now stuck piteously
between his legs, and his roar is as gentle
as the cooing Of dove. John Bull has
taken of his epaulets, and is now studying in
tently upon words of three syllables, promi-
nent among which are the terms Monitor
Ericsson" and "Merrimac." Let John be
good boy and learn his lesson WE'LL We shall
have others more difficult to teach him by and
by, and he will discover use for all he can
learn and more. Like most schoolbOys, he may
find little whipping necessary to the COM
pleton of his education.
The Lords, the Commons and the press Of
England seem to share equally in the naval
panic we have created, and they all acknow-
lad t6a IF Iafa nd
the necessity for iron-clad nsvies. Lord Pal
mcrston thinks that, on the whole, the inven-
ton Of Ercsson-clamed, falsely, for the
English Captain Coles-''will turn out the most
effectual," and announces that he will
give notice to the contractors to suspend
work for the present upon shore Notifications.
Undoubtedly Lord Palmerston's "for the pre-
sent" will be forever. The Duke of Somer-
set, representing the Admiralty, in the House
of Lords, said that she was obliged to the peo-
pie of America for their admonition, and still
more obliged to them for their experiments.
If they would only make a few more of these
experiments they would save the English naval
authorities . great deal of trouble" and Of
course he would be even still more obliged.
The noble lord shall certainly be gratifed, and
before long we shall show the English naval
authorities not only how to make war vessels,
but how to destroy them; for it would be very
silly Of US to invent iron ships without invent
ing the means to render futile their employ.
ment against US. In our turn, also, we are
much obliged to the Duke Of Somerset for re-
minding us that il is impossible for England to
convoy her merchant and transport ships, and
that they are, therefore, at our mercy whenever
we choose to go to war.
But the English press, not being tongue-tied
by official reserve, Is still more explicit and
confessional. The Times frankly acknow.
ledges that the boasted navy Of England
now consists only OF four vessels, Of
which but two are completed; for, ''if all the
rest Of our navy were drawn up in order of
battle there are half dozen ships in the world
which would run them down and riddle them
with shot and smash them utterly, without al
lowing them . chance Of resistance II Eng
land cannot build iron-coated ships as fast as
other nations the, Times admits that she is at
our mercy; and we are told that, il We guard
our harbors with iron batteries, the United
States may defy the combined world. We
shall take pains to have the iron batteries
ready, we assure our British friends. Mean
while let them remember that If we could
build Monitors 70 hght the rebels we could
have built them to fight Enclsnd and lei
them reflect at their leisure upon the result Of
that war with this country which, At the time
of the Trent excitement, the English press was
SO anxious to bring about Only the justice of
this government, rising superior to all other
considerations, saved England from annihila-
ton then, and she may thank US now for de-
stroying forever her supremacy upon the seas.
MERcIEgs VISIT TO RroHMosp.--The current
topic Of conversation and speculation con-
finues 10 he the riait nf Minister Aerciar 10 Tho