The New York herald., 1862-04-25


Welles, the venerable head of the Navy De-
partment, is going our. and new man h to
take his place 1t is ststAd, too. that Mr.. Welles
8 to be shipped off to SpNin 1t is matter,
however. Of little or no cdslseqnenoe whether
the gentleman goes to Spain, Paraguay or Js-
pan, SO that we get him out Of the Navy Depart
ment. His successor, if picked up in tho
streets at a venture, cannot possibly be worse,
and may bo thousand times better, qualified
to administer the duties Of tho department at
this crisis than is Mr.. Welles.
But President Lincoln, exercising his own
good judgment, and in accordance with the
storm and costly lessons of this war and the
imperative demands Of the present day in the
matter of an efficient navy, can effect an Inn
mediate and wonderful revolution In our naval
service by the appointment Of the right kind
Of man TO manage It, We expect, too, that Mr.
Lincoln will appoint the right sort Of man.
We are strengthened in this impression very
much from the report that General Banks, Of
Massachusetts, and Governor Sprague, of
Rhode Island, are foremost among the names
mentioned AZ those from which the new head
of tho Navy Department will be chosen
Either General Banks or Governor Spragus
will be satisfactory to the country; for they
both belong to the active, earnest leading pro-
gressive men of the present day, and not to tho
old political fossils of a generation which is
buried, nor to tho exploded military ideas and
means and appliances of war of 1860.
What is the record of Mr.. Welles as our Secre-
tary of the Navy! II is that of man still ad-
herring to an old order of thought after it has
been superseded by revolution in the art of
war as marked az that resulting from the intro
duction ofgunpowder. Mr.. Welles has made
some considerable additions to our naval estab-
lishment; but among them are from sixty to
seventy sailing wooden vessels purchased,
which, with only few exceptions, to the best
of our knowledge, have not been, and are not
likely to be, ofany earthly service to hegovern-
ment. We are informed, too, that the twenty
wooden steam gunboats, which Mr.. Weues
was induced to hurry up for the uses
Of our seaboard naval expeditions in this war,
but little if any thing faster under full head
of steam than common sailing vessel under
good wind. Mr.. Welles, we believe, has also
provided for tho construction of several iron
clad gunboats, to be finished six or nine
months hence, from which it is evident
that he supposes this war is to "drag its slow
length along" through six, eight Or ten years
of comfortable contracts and magnificent old
fashioned naval expeditions.
We want Secretary Of the Navy who will
give us record different from this, from be-
ginning to end; We want no more purchases
of old sailing vessels as ships-of-war; we want
no more wooden gunboats propelled by steam
at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour; we
want no more magnificent naval expeditions to
uninhabited sand hills and Improbable sea
islands, while such places az Norfolk, Whining
ton, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and New Or
leans continue in the hands of the enemy. Our
great naval expedition of last autumn might
just as easily have shelled out the rebel de-
fences of Norfolk as those of Port Royal; and
Norfolk, with its arsenal Of two thousand five
hundred pieces of artillery, and with that un-
finished monster, the Merrimac, would have been
a prize that fifty times over would have paid all
expenses.
We have no doubt that Mr.. Secretary Wclcs
is responsible for this great blunder of moving
off this aforesaid expedition from the waters of
Norfolk, when Norfolk, Of all places, was the
very place to be first taken. Had ii been taken
last October, tho James river route to Rich
mond would now be open to u.s. and we should
not now find the banks of the Mississippi brst-
ling with rebel batteries, numbering at each de-
fensive point from fifty to two or three hundred
heavy guns.
Mr.. Welles was afraid of Norfolk, as he was
tor when first proposed to him by Captain
Ericsson. The Captain waited upon the Secre-
tary from day to day for hearing till his pa
tence was exhausted; and then, as Q last resort,
going in person to the President, with his plans
and proposals, he was heard and authorized to
build his ship. We are indebted, then, to
the lucky thought Of Captain Ericsson, of ap-
pealing from Secretary Weiles to President
Lincoln. for the lucky presence Of the Monitor
in Hampton Roads, when nothing but the pre-
sence of such vessel could have saved u
from public disgrace and an invincible
sea monster which, in another day, might hayo
changed the fortunes Of this war in favor of the
rebellion.
We want iron-ciad rams and gunboats, swift
and strong; and a half dozen such craft,
carrying each only one heavy gun Of the most
approved American invention, will be worth
more TO us than dozen numbering and vul-
nerable Warriors. We want man in the Navy
Department who will keep us ahead of Eng
land in these iron naval defences, and who
will defeat by anticipating the iron-clad YES
sells which our Southern rebels are building at
various places. Let us hope that President
Lincoln will give us such man as the success
sor to old Mr.. Weles.
WHAT VIZ HAVE Done FOR ErEoPE.--Since
we have become nation we have given
Europe the best reapers the tightcst locks,
Al. tl,n oI,n - II Il,