The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1863-04-23

From the Chicago Jouaial.l
The details Of the bombardrent in
Charleston are now so,fnlly before us,
that the puUnc can sern an intelf gent
opinion of its character and results.
The failure of our iron clad feet. in
It's hrsr se.--lz-npon the defenseso Of that
detestable city, is m~..ar of disaa-
pointment and cbagrin, but shoufa~ not
dampen the hopes of the country. The
high expectations that had been raised,
that the attack would certainly be sue
cessfu, are, in great measure, attri-
butable to the foolish and unauthorized
reports sent out from Washington by
newspaper quidnuncs, who represen.
ted that the officers- of the. Gnvernment
and everybody else were very sanguine
of victory. while, probably, in truth, no
such expression Of great confidence
had been made by any of the official
authorities.
Success in the first attack upon SO
formidable stronghold, ought to have
been considered, at best, doubtful. The
difficulties to be encountered were enor-
nous. The enemy had been two years
preparing for our coming. They had
looked for US daily for four months.
Their best engineers had been racking
their brains to invent ways and means
for making the place impregnable.
Thousands of negroes had been at work
night and day. The best artillery in
the world had been brought from
Europe. The forts bristled with can
non the channel was paved with tor
pedoes; the entrance to the harbor was
blocked by distractions of the most
ingenious and formidable character.
All the approaches to the city, both by
land and water, were guarded by bat
teries mounted by heavy guns or block
AIDED by breastworks and entrench-
ments.
The advantages of position were all
on the side Of the enemy. They fought
behind batteries and within forts that
no projectiles could pierce. They were
able to pour upon our advancing fleet
"a concentric fire from 800 guns. They
were able to bring all their terrible ar
tillery, as to focus, upon a point
which orr iron-cads were compelled to
pass on their way toward the city,
They had the additional advantage of
firing from the stationary position,
! while our vessels labored under the
serious drawback of firing under mo,
ton.
The taking of fortified city is the
most difficult of all the achievements
of war. The greatest conquerors in
history have been compelled to spend
months and years in reducing town
of a few thousand Inhabitants. Glib
raltar is a proverb of impregnability.
1t took the Allies sixteen months to
reduce Sebastopol. The fleets and
armies of Victor Emanuel battered the
walls Of Gaeta for FIVE months before
they found admission. An English
fleet set out to capture Cronstadt, and
found the obstacles SO insuperable thai
it returned without firing gun. But
Sebastopol and Gaeta and Cronstadt
never had such artillery as Charleston
and yet some people are indignant be
cause Com. Dupont did not capture il
in an afternoon Let us try and be
reasonable.
The affair at Charleston has settled
one thing: the virtual invulnerability
of our iron-clads. No feet ever at
tempted to run such fea full guantlet
no feet ever sustained such murder
GUS fire. Fancy 800 guns-and the
best guns in the world at tbat-play
ing upon them, as they steamed up the
river! Exposed to a concentric fire
from five different points; compelled tc
pass within few hundred yards o
Fort Sumter; cramped in a narrow
channel, with an area of operations o
only 500 yards; running against OBJ
struetions stumbling upon torpedoes
exposed to danger from above and
from beneath the wonder would
! seem to be not that one of our iror