Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1863-04-21

lone ia ChdrfSt0H may, Oh oCcassou, oc
lone in any other American hsrbor
md. in fact. more casily than there. Tor
.be principal forts Of almost every other
,arbor are newer and str, niger. There
fore it Is practically demonstrated tina
n cafe Of foreign war zoe can make CT
lies on the sed-board perfectly secure
from danger.
Our defsnsire inpincibiiitg on the
ea-bos,d established. as !; nor as by
he developments al Charleston, there IL
,ft no room for doubt but that Eng
land would get the worst of it in the
struggle
Under the head Of "Facts About the
Charleston Fight" the Tribune e:ves ils
radical brethren sound drubbing. 1t
should be observed that the Tribune's
tan was represented at the nava! at
.a,k, tcirg the only newspaper rcprc
,en,,d on hoard the feet. Its wuteI
,as on the lron1ides, had ample orpNi-
unity TO learn exactly the facts, and, III
eierring 10 tho letter Of correspond
.nt who end, avors 10 make out that the
leet suffered little or nothing, says in
eading column Of the Ttbane:.
1t is enough 10 state his assertions on
two or three material points, and TO
state the facts which contfadct them.
IJa ult "a ,,,a IA In
itors we're so slight y il ned that they
could have been taken INTO action next
lay; tina, their officers we're in favor OF
reeuming the tigot; that Font Sumter
vas 80 badly damaged that another
b JmbaI dment would have caused its
surrender and that, therefore, the de-
ision OF Admiral Dupont 10 withdraw
Was premature, and the failure OF the at
tack owing Who'll y TO him. Not one Of
these statements is tiue-not even col
orably or plansibly SO.
The inj red iron clad, were not and
,ou not DO repaired on the spot, u
Washington telegram to the contrary,
having no better authority than ia
which We dlsprove. Every enc OF then
eomman ders- with possibly ore cxccp.
tion-was OF opinion, and 30 stated on
board the New lransid,s, that it WA.
hopeless TO renew the engagement. The
| xtcnt OF the damage To Fort Sumter
could not be asceitained, but there Is no
evidence whatever that IL was serious ::
that the strength o; the fort was app, :
ably weakened BY the bo,nbardment
onc officer thought he Jaw two port
holts Knocked Into one, and that is all.
Even Tie ADe' 'ean'S correspondent.
apparently forgetting for the moment he
ans case to make out, says in one
place that nothing is known as to the
amount of injury TO the interior, IN,
"sevcral' Is inch sho, arc "bclleycd"
0 have entered the embrasnres
A to the fliecrs' opinions, his state
nents are equal, inconsh teut. lie de
| elar,s in Que letter that aU the officers
| of tho different vessels were in rcadi-
ness, and most OF them anxious TO re
ncw the conflict, but in a paragraph
ar'ttcn three days later can only lege
hat from the reserve manner Of the
captains he ,s inclined 10 Doubt whether
M OF them adyscd the abandonment o
he attempt! The Truth il TIM. there
vas Just one commander who h,sitated
10 declare positively against another
b)mh,rdment. The dcc,slon Of Adm raj
Dupont was sustained bv the opinions Il
u least eight out of nine OF his captains
officers who were chosen as the Il over
Of their profess on to command these
ronclads and ~ that OF Capt. c. r.
L. Rodgers, his Fleet Captain, than
whom there Is no ADLER or Drawer ofli.e,
OF his TAI k, or crhaps any rank in The
navy. When such men as these decide
dat the battle is hopeless, It would
seem "a il even the lihelous m nth ofthe
1mertcaa correspondent might have
been closed.
Aside from their opinion, it is, unfor-
tuna,ely, too plain case for Argument
The heat Of this fight lasted about three.
quarters Of an hour, aud in that period
ire ont Of tic mine iron ciads .cere so
Seri0nsiy dSabled as 10 be unaJia 10 con
f'n"e The conf'ct. They could not pen
citrate toe distractions TO The chaune',
and could not be steeied into he en-
trance between them. Sill less WAS il
possible TO have used the rats and tor
pedoes. Wnh the raft alone the Nee
nawken was almost unmanaeeahle. III
Fort Sumter hod not tired q slot IL may
be doubted chethe- tie Ion-ciaGs cou!a
haze made thar aoay into lite AarLor.
There i. clear change of tone in the
Eeen,ay I1S, Instead OF shouting
"conhIence"-"syc the administration
your cotfilcnce,' AID patiently wa for
ctory to turn up, the Post grows i'm.
patient. Ilstead, too, OF belitlling the
epemy and crying ION tn Richmond
the Post now believes that he is prepar. |